Tour of Duty
by lady.hatter1891
Summary: Every Ranger goes through their tour of duty, but some are called up for another round. Old Rangers find themselves called back when they try to help an old friend who seems to know just a little too much about who they are and what they do.
1. Chapter 1

"Dr. O, no offence, but why are we helping you look for new bedding." An odd tone entered the red clad teen male's voice as he observed the items on the shelf before him.

"More rather, why are we helping you look for pink and girlie bedding?" The blue clad African American male asked from beside his friend, equally confused.

The two young males looked at each other before they stared at the older man to their right with devious looks. "Having an identity crisis? Or is there something you're not telling us?"

The red clad male coughed down a laugh as he added on his own jab. "Yeah, another colour change in your future, Dr O? Along with some other changes you may want to inform us of?"

"Very funny, Conner." The black clad older male, Dr. O, observed the red youth with a tired expression. This was his fifth try at shopping and he was getting desperate. Thus, his shopping mates. "Ethan, you're Blue. I know you're smart enough to know this obviously isn't for me."

"Doesn't mean I can't make jokes." The boy in blue, Ethan, shrugged his shoulders with a smirk. "I may be smart, but I'm still human. I'm gonna crack a joke or two when a grown man is shopping for young girls bedding."

"Ha-ha, Ethan."

"Seriously, Dr. Oliver, this is kinda weird. Even for you." The young girl in yellow and denim made her way over to the three fighting males. "Can you please tell us why you're doing this? Why we're helping you?"

Tommy Oliver let out a sigh knowing it was time to tell them. "You're right, Ethan. There is something I'm not telling you all. But," he was quick to add, as all three youths went wide eyed and opened mouthed in implication at this admittance. "I'm not changing colour, fingers crossed, and I'm certainly not getting a sex change, Conner."

He gave the red clad teen a hard look, to which the youth merely responded with one of un-assuredness and unease towards his mentor and former teacher.

"Well, then what are we doing here and what aren't you telling us."

"Well, Kira, what I'm not telling you is that I'm going to be having a house guest." Yet again his young companions met him with shocked looks of disbelief. "She's the little sister of an old friend. She and her mother have done an excellent job of keeping in touch and I'm happy to say I'm very good friends with them now, too."

All but Connor recovered with this information and listened with more understanding expressions.

"Lately she's been behaving weird. Her grades have been slipping and she's running with an odd crowd." Tommy sighed and picked up a comforter to keep his expression occupied. "She just moved back to Angel Grove from living with her aunt in Chicago, IL. It seems that that's where this whole mess started. She has improved, but that's not saying much.

"So, her mother and I have been talking and we decided that maybe somewhere completely different would be best. She'd lived in the Chicago area before and knew what to expect. Now granted she has lived in Angel Grove for around four years, Reefside is a good distance away and some what different. This seemed like the last chance for her to get her daughter back. I was more then happy to help, of course.

"I know her, she isn't like this. I've seen her grow, watched the light in her eyes get brighter the more she learns. I've seen her hands make beautiful works of art out of paper and pencil, or what ever medium she decides to use. Plus, I feel like this is something I need to do, as favor to an old friend."

"Who is he? Another former Ranger?" Kira took the comforter from his hands and put it back in its place on the shelf.

"No, he wasn't a Ranger." A reminiscent look crossed his face. "He was one of my martial arts students. He was in junior high when I was in high school. My first year of college was his freshmen year of high school. You could see the love he had for his sister, for his mother. Though, you could see that same love for his sister in everyone's eyes. His sister was infectious. You couldn't help but love her. Unless you were their stepfather and her stepmother. Their mom tried so hard to find someone who loved them and could guide them as only a male could do. It didn't work, and it took its toll on the kids.

"As the years went by you could see the love for his sister fade. He became jealous. She was still so open and caring and infectious when all he could do was hate these people that were hurting her, targeting her. He watched as she cried and cried as these people tried to break her time and time again. Yet, she never cried in front of them and stayed strong, never hating them as he did. 'What right does she have to be happy?'"

Tommy looked at the different bed sets before him, looking past them. Looking at a time when things were worse and easier at the same time.

"She was always so aware of those who were hurting her. She knew she was unwanted in her stepfather's house. As she was equally unwanted in her father's house. She knew she was unloved by these people, but she was sure as hell going to try to love them."

"Wow, to not have your father love you. I can't imagine what that must feel like." Connor's voice was pained.

"His name was Tanner Morrison. He soon moved out of his mother house and came to Angel Grove to live with his uncle. He needed time away from that environment. He joined my martial arts class and you could see the light re-enter his eyes as he talked about his sister. Soon he told me everything I just told you. It ripped him up inside to see he hated his sister in such a way. He soon began to long for their presence, his mother's and sister's. When his uncle died, his mother decided it was time for a change and brought Alyx out to Angel Grove where they all tried to be a family again but the ending was the same. Though he tried his hardest to change it."

The three teens stared at their mentor and friend, waiting for him to continue. "What happened to him?" Kira prompted when he failed to continue.

"He eventually dropped out of my class towards the end of his seventh grade year, made the wrong friends and followed the same path he had back in Chicago." Tommy sighed and faced his young companions. "I tried to help out. I did my best to bring him around but it soon became evident that all I could do was keep in touch. I soon became close to his mother and his sister. She was really smart for an eight year old. Very easy to get along with and bond to. She was very hesitant at first, almost hell bent at not being my friend or liking me. I later found out that it was because I was her brother's friend and she didn't want to seem like one of those siblings that clung to her brother and his friends."

A chuckle escaped his lips as he remembered her stubbornness the first time Kimberly and he had come over for dinner. At how quickly she and Kimberly had bonded. A dull ache pulsed through him, but he quickly swallowed it down.

"Any way, that's pretty much how she and I became friends." Tommy smiled at the youths before him and he shrugged. "She's been living in Chicago for the past year and decided it was time to come home. Her mother and her have talked this out, and not with out a few horse throats and bruises, they agreed that this could be best for her. Her friends aren't happy though. They just got her back, and they may not let her go."

Turning his head in thought, something caught his eye. "Oh, that's perfect!"

"Are you kidding me?" Kira looked at him in disbelief. "You think this is the one?"

Tommy picked up the bed set and smiled widely at his former students. "Trust me," he held up the classic Power Rangers themed bedding. "She's a major fan of the classics. If only they had the Green or White Rangers to go along with this. She would lose her head."

Tommy brow sunk in minor disappointment.

Connor heard this and perked up instantly. "They do, Dr. O. In the boys section!" The excitement in his voice was only mirrored by what was shown on his face.

"Really?" Tommy looked at his former student with hopeful eyes. "Did they happen to have a classic Batman set as well?"

"That I don't know." Connor looked at Tommy with an impish grin. "I only know about the power rangers one because I was thinking of getting them. They also have the Red Ranger."

"Good, she'll flip when she sees the whole set." He grabbed the yellow ranger set but stopped when he looked down to place the set in his cart.

"What's wrong Dr. O?" Kira looked over his shoulder and her brow furrowed in confusion. "They're different."

Tommy's smile broadened as he picked up the two sets and compared them. "This one is from the Ninjetti days. Do they have the pink?" He put both in the cart and began looking in the small section of Ranger bedding.

"Here you go Dr. O." Kira found the Pink Ninjeti Ranger bedding and handed it off to Tommy's excited hands.

A quick glance at the wall and he found the original yellow ranger he had been looking for.

Connor came back, eyes lit with excitement as he stopped in front of Tommy, nearly bouncing in his place. "Dr. O! They have you're Red Ranger bedding. Both of them. Zeo and Turbo."

"Oh, yeah. They have the Zeo and Turbo of the Pink and Yellow here, as well, Dr. O." Kira smiled at him but it quickly faded into a look of confusion.

"She won't want any of that." His expression had darkened momentarily as he turned and headed back toward the boy's section.

"That was weird. What do you think he meant by that." Kira's voice was weak as she grabbed her cart, which was loaded down with bedding and bathroom supplies. "But you guys go with him. I need to grab something for this chick that I'm sure none of you will think of nor want to do."

The two young males looked at each other confused and shrugged. "Do you have any idea what she's talking about?"

"No clue," Ethan may be a genius but girls were an unknown species to him. "Let's go help Dr. O, like she said, so we don't end up hurt."

Connor nodded vigorously in agreement, and the two off them headed toward the boy's bedding isle.

"There you guys are." Tommy looked relieved as he wheeled his own cart toward the end of the isle. "I need your guy's help big time." He handed the two of them two separate lists. "I'm heading toward the food section. Ethan, you go to the pet section and get the things on that list. Connor, you go to electronics, furniture and lighting to get the things on your list. We'll meet up at the front of the store when we're done, or we'll come find you."

Tommy and Ethan both looked at Connor pointedly. "What? Why does everyone think I'm gonna be the slow one who can't find what's on his list?" He looked down at his list to make sure that he knew what everything was, but something about the bedding in Dr. O's cart caught his eye. "Dude, what?"

"Don't call me dude."

"Yeah, what ever." Connor rolled his eyes at his mentor and went back to glaring. "Why does she get a king size bed? That's so not cool."

"Because, she's going to be sharing it with a dog. Or was it two dogs? Either way, she needs a big bed." With that, Dr. Tommy Oliver made his way toward the food section of the Reefside Wal-Mart.

"I'll see you later, Connor." Ethan took his leave then and went toward the same area Kira had gone off to.

With a sigh, Connor made his way toward the electronics section. Looking over his list with a growing look of confusion.

'Why is Dr. O getting this chick all this stuff? A new TV? Video games?'

"This is so not cool." He dropped the list into the cart and stopped to look for the TV he had seen on the detailed list. "I mean, I know he can afford it, but who's he trying to impress. Her mom and her apparently move around a lot. They couldn't possibly be doing that bad."

"You wouldn't know, being a spoiled brat and all." A harsh feminine voice came from behind him. "Connor McKnight, star soccer player of Reefside High. I do believe you drive a perfectly restored Mustang. Am I wrong?"

He turned sharply, coming face to face with the hard expression of a very beautiful green clad blonde teenage girl. "You wouldn't know the first thing about living with financial fear, would you? Have you ever had a job? Other then professional jerk?"

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Connor tried to make his face as polite as possible with the violent waves that were rolling of the angry goddess before him.

"No, but you know my friend." Her features darkened for a moment before they softened slightly as she continued. "I don't like the way things went between the two of you. Stay away from her and the rest of my friends."

"What are you talking about? Who are you talking about? Who are you?" It became evident that she was not going to give any of this information out. He tried a different tactic. "How am I supposed to know if they're your friends or not?" His mind was still reeling at the odd and unexpected accusations of this blonde girl. "Are you gonna sticker them or something?"

"Maybe," A dark smirk snaked onto her lips as she lowered her brow in masked fury. "Or, maybe you should just know not to mess with some people when you're looking for a quick fix to your raging hormones. Think about it, McKnight, and be careful the next time your doing something you probably shouldn't be doing."

With that she whipped around and made her way towards the front of the Wal-Mart. Connor watched her go still slightly shocked and plenty confused. A flash of pink, purple and blue hair caught his eye.

The blonde stopped and talked to this person, who was standing with a brown a haired women, supposedly, who was only slightly taller then the other two.

Drawn to the possibility of figuring this weird girl out a little better, he snuck around the isle of DVDs that was separating them to hear better.

"Luna, where'd you go?" The voice was older, probably belonged to the brunette in the group. "We were looking all over the store for you."

"Yeah, Hun, I really started to get worried when you weren't in the kiddy pool section." The voice was throaty and made him think of dark rooms and sneaky business.

"Sorry about that." No harshness was in her voice, you could hear the smile in there now as she spoke to these two people. "Ms. Hart, I was wondering what you thought about having a karaoke night before school starts?"

A sigh came from whom was expected to be Ms. Hart, the older one most likely. "Sure, and we'll need black lights, strobe lights and fog machines."

"Ooh." A shiver ran up his spine at the sound. "Can we get fluorescent fog? That would make me really happy."

After a short pause, Ms. Hart responded with a defeated tone. "Sure! Why not. If we're gonna have a blow out, which is what this is looking like it's going to be, we might as well go all out." Another pause and the shuffling of feet. "Lead the way, girls."

Something about the voice of the odd haired girl had struck Connor as familiar, as did the other girl entirely, but he couldn't place how.

Sighing, he let it go, or at least tried to, and went back to his cart to find what was on his list. He found the TV and went on to find everything else, which was fairly easy until he got to the video games, computer and studying lamp. By the end he never wanted to see another wall clock for as long as he lived, then he shuddered remembering Dr. O had five.

A smile lit his face when he found the group at the meeting spot and found he was, in fact, not the last one to complete their list. Dr. O, as a matter of fact, had gone missing and the three teens were left waiting for him. As the three tried to wait patiently, though they were beginning to think they would rather kill each other, a throaty voice with a sultry undertone caught Connor's ears and he froze.

"Did you see Kim's face." Concern and shock colored her beautiful voice as the sound of shuffling feet was coming toward him. "I don't think I've ever seen her that mad. Not since PE when I refused to dress out."

"I don't think she was even as upset then as she was just now, but I'm not so sure she was mad." Luna's voice made Connor rethink his plan to turn around and find out who the mystery girl was.

"She was mad," The confidence in the girl's voice was undeniable. "She was glaring at that guy, hardcore. I would not want to be him when Kim finishes what ever it is she's putting the poor guy through."

"You two have so much in common, it's kinda scary." Luna's voice was light, but had a harsh undertone that shocked Connor until he was suddenly shoved into Ethan by the shoulder of what he supposed to be an angry blonde.

"Watch it!" Kira's voice rang through the air and Connor stiffened in fear of what would come next. He heard a weak sorry and knew that they were well on there way out of the store, or to a check out. Either way, the angry blonde was gone and he was safe. For now, at least.

"Well, that was incredibly rude." Kira scoffed in the direction Connor suspected they went in.

"Hey, Connor, man, are you okay?" Ethan looked at him wearily. "You aren't to looking to good. Do you not feel well or something? You're paler then Hayley on a bad day."

"Or something." He managed a wavering smile he was sure they could tell was fake. To say he wasn't feeling good was closer but he didn't want his friends to worry.

Hayley was the local MIT graduate and the residing genius of Reefside as well as the good friend of Dr. Oliver's. She could either be found in her lab, the good Doctor's lab or her café. This led to her being the typically pale indoor's prone science junky slash computer genius. It is safe to say that Connor didn't look his usual tan self if Haylay looked a healthier colour then he did.

To be perfectly honest, he didn't feel like his usual self either. He was shaken. Something had been pulling at the back of his mind since he met Luna. Since Dr. O had told his story about his friend's little sister even. The mention of skin paler then Hayley's shook him as well. It was driving him mad, because even though it made sense that these things would effect him, he couldn't for the life of him figure out why or how. This fact, that all these unrelated things fell into place for no reason and made sense, this was what bothered him most. What did he do that he couldn't remember? Who had he hurt? How bad?

The other two teens watched their friend drift off somewhere in his own head with worried eyes. All they could do was watch and be clueless on how to help. This wasn't like Connor and they were worried about what they would witness if they disturbed his thoughts in anyway.

"Hey! look guys, it's Dr. O." Ethan chuckled do to nerves as Kira sent him a pointed look while jerking her head toward Connor. All Ethan could do was send her a pained look and shrug his shoulders.

"Oh, cool." Connor was brought out of his staring contest with empty space and turned to see the good doctor coming from the food section.

The three teens were startled at his appearance when he finally came fully into view. He looked even more shaken up then Connor did, and rather worn out to add on to the apparent problem.

"Whoa, dude. What happened to you?" Connor's voice was shaky, still slightly effected by his own encounter's of the day.

"Don't call me dude." Was all they got as he huffed an exhausted breath and stopped his cart near his teen companions. He leaned over it, feeling as if he could die right there, and not really care either way.

Images of brown hair and honey skin flashed behind his lids as he closed his eyes and tried to forget the whole incident.

'It wasn't real, anyway, you old dinosaur. You imagined the whole thing and chased a mirage around the grocery section of Wal-Mart for no reason.'

"Um, are you okay, Dr. O?" Kira looked at her mentor and friend, worried as their conditions were identical.

"What?" Tommy shook his head and dispelled his self argument. "No, I'm fine. Don't worry Kira. Something just caught my eye and it had me thinking is all."

"What caught your eye, Dr. O?" Ethan was curious, he to noticed the similar looks on his companion's faces.

"Nothing you need worry about." With that he put on a brave face and stood tall, both hands clasping his cart. "Are you all done with your lists? Good, let's get out of here, drop this stuff off at my house and enjoy some pizza at Hayley's."

Connor followed with out question, afraid that things would shift back toward him. The other two teens just watched them go, dumbfounded about either incident and how they could possibly be related. So with one last pained look toward each other, they followed their teacher and friend with out another word about the incidents to either of them.

Tommy was true to his word. They dropped the spoils of the trip off at his house, putting the perishables away of course, and got pizza before going to Hayley's to relax and have smoothies.

The kids soon left though, claming tiredness and a desperate need to spend sometime away from their old teacher since they would see him the next morning for training as well.

"I know I don't say this enough, but that's a good group of kids." Tommy said, slightly distant with out outside conversation to distract him from his thoughts.

"Yeah," Hayley's voice became sharp and cut through his slight daze instantly. "Cut the crap, Tommy. I know something's up, and I'm not going to except what ever BS reason you gave those three."

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about." Tommy tried to act as if this were true but failed when his eyes caught sight of the interview being shown on the screen behind the counter.

Hayley followed his gaze then turned to him with an expression so full of fire he began to sweat under her glare.

"I cannot believe you." Her voice was almost as harsh her gaze but Tommy barely noticed either of these things. "I thought you were past this. How can you so easily revert back to your high school boy self when she's only on an interview?"

Her words registered, and he knew she was right, but he couldn't seem to muster up the will to care. He knew he was being pathetic, but that was okay, because he was watching her, listening to her talk.

It was an old interview, but it was her. "Hart takes gold in Pan Global Games!" was the title of the interview. She was so happy, sweaty and tired, but happy. His eyes were too cloudy with what he expected to see to see the hollowness in the doe eyes that he was staring into through the TV.

Hayley could, though. It was the same hollow emptiness she had seen in Tommy's eyes several times since meeting him at MIT. She knew something just wasn't right about the whole situation surrounding their break up, but that it had to wait. Tommy was first, and until he finally could move past this, nothing could be done.

She tried once again to bring him around through reason and talk, but something was keeping him from listening.

Hayley noted that he was not listening with Kim around in any form and changed the channel.

"I was watching that!" Tommy snapped at her with out remorse, still enrapt in the previous program. They were just beginning the "Where are they now?" segment. Maybe now he could find her and see how she was. Maybe they could have coffee and talk about the letter and everything that had followed it. Maybe they could…. Could what?

"Exactly." Hayley heaved a heavy sigh and rubbed her temples. "It was just an interview, Tommy. An old interview, even, and it was like nothing else is or ever was with you."

"But, it wasn't just the interview." Hayley raised her eye brows in question and nodded for him to continue. "I saw her in the Wal-Mart today."

"Oh, God! You talked to her?" Tommy you dolt, was all she could think as she watched over 5 years of work go down the drain.

"No, just saw her." He lowered his head after that. "Or, at least I think I did."

Wait. "So, you didn't talk to her?" Tommy shook his head and Hayley sighed in relief. "You're not even sure who you saw was her."

Tommy nodded and took a sip of his coffee. "I mean, it's not possible anyway. She's probably in Florida with some gymnastics studio making a killing off her reputation as a Pan Global gold and Olympic silver medalist."

"And it's for the best Tommy. You clearly aren't in the state to see her." Hayley handed off a group of smoothies she had just finished for the kids at table 4. "And, if I wasn't already in love with the kid, I would try and talk you out of taking in Alyx."

Tommy stiffened at the implication in Hayley's voice and kept his head down to hide his shock. "She's so much like her, it could keep you from focusing and moving forward. Plus, she's most likely still in contact with Kimberly and who knows what could come of that."

Just what he hoped would happen, Tommy thought and took a healthy drink of his coffee.

Realization swept through Hayley and shown on her face. "Or, is it rather, what you want to happen."

Tommy sputtered and his coffee was no longer on its way down his throat.

"Thomas James Oliver!" You sly dog, almost got past me. "Are you planning on using this girl as a means of getting back in touch with Kimberly? You are!" When Tommy didn't respond she knew the answer anyway. "You are so low, you know that."

"I'm not using her. I'm helping her, I swear." Tommy lowered his eyes and mumbled the rest. "That fact that this could lead to Kimberly was only an after thought."

Hayley was grabbing at a metal mixing spoon when Tommy realized she had heard the last part. "That! And I wasn't even sure that that's what I wanted until I 'saw' Kimberly today in Wal-Mart. I need closure, clearly. At least that! You know I'm right, Hayley, I can see it in your eyes." That, and the fact that her hand had relaxed on the metal mixing spoon.

"You're SO lucky you're persuasive."

* * *

"I still can't believe that guy tried to pull that on you." Alyx maneuvered through the thick traffic of down town Angel Grove. "Who knew that you could find such creepers in a Wal-Mart? Oh, wait. That's common knowledge."

Luna giggled from the backseat and continued to nibble on the cherry tomatoes she just had to have.

"I know!" Kim looked over at her young companion and thought about the small incident involving harsh vibes towards a curtain soccer player. "Speaking of creepers: I saw Conner McKnight's car in the parking lot." Kim saw Alyx's brow fall as she suddenly focused on the road with unwavering concentration. "Not to mention some major hostility toward his innocent car."

"His car ain't so innocent." Luna mumbled from her lounged state in the back seat. Louder she commented with: "The guys a major creeper. Anything involving him deserves an attempt of murder by way of glare. Why do you ask?"

Alyx rolled her eyes and briefly looked at her friend through the rearview mirror. "She didn't ask a question. She made a comment." Luna stuck her tongue out and threw a tomato at the back of Alyx's head.

Kim chuckled at the two young girls who reminded her so much of Trini and herself back in high school. She made a mental note to steal Trini away from Jason for some girl time.

"All I'm saying is that I was a teenager once. I know hostility toward a male for "certain reasons" when I see it. What's going on?"

Luna grumbled from the backseat and Alyx scoffed. "Ms. Hart, Connor and I have," she screwed her face up in an odd way and searched for the right word as they pulled up to the Golden Crane Gymnastics studio. "History. We have history. In that car."

Kim nodded in understanding until those words truly sunk in. "Wait. What kind of history. Deep history, Crust Level history or playful history?"

Alyx turned off the jeep and sighed as she looked out the front window. "A little of each, but very little Deep history, you know?"

Kim looked between the girls to see if this was true. Luna's scowl said everything.

The thing with Luna and Alyx was simply this. They were close and very protective of each other. Upon Alyx's move to Angel Grove the first time, the two bonded at the Junior Officer's Benefit Dance and they haven't been anything but close since.

"Well, that's interesting." Kim looked at her young companion and smiled. "So, girl talk time. How was it?"

It never seemed to amaze her how nothing could ever get the girl to blush. Alyx, do to an odd childhood, never found anything startling or indecent. Well, not indecent but nothing that was so far from her frame of thought that it would make her blush.

"He's a great kisser." The slight quirk of her lips and the way her gaze darkened told Kim that she could guess what else he was great at from there.

Kim laughed and got out of the car. The girls followed and they all trekked back and forth from the car to the training center's office bringing in the items they had purchased.

Alyx turned on the jeep once more and replaced the top, then locked it and headed straight for the girl's locker room. Kim busied herself in her office that was placed just above the locker rooms. Luna, having nothing to do, positioned herself on the floor routine mats, pulled out her laptop and began watching a movie, happily popping cherry tomatoes into her mouth.

Alyx returned, having abandoned the basketball shorts and tank she had been wearing for a pair of smaller shorts and a tighter camisole and sports bra. She remained shoeless, having kicked her flip-flops off in the car and not needing them for her work out. She also carried with her a pair of 10lb weights and her iPod.

She fiddled with her iPod for a moment, connecting it to the gym wide sound system and selecting her play list. Luna soon noticed this, considering she was sitting right by the controls where Alyx was fiddling. Her eyes grew wide and she squealed in objection.

"Go change." Alyx smiled and Luna took off towards the lockers. Alyx chuckled and scratched the nape of her neck as she waited for her friend.

Upon Luna's excited return Alyx began her work out routine. It was a mix of dance, aerobics, boxing and weight training. They finished up by grabbing a pair of 5lb weights from the rack across the room and doing minor toning then a small amount of calming stretches.

Luna breathed in heavily and made way to sit down, but Alyx stopped her, equally worn out. "I want to just lay down as much as you, but we need move to help our muscles transition." Luna nodded and the two began to circle the room.

They smiled when they caught sight of Kim moving across her beam and slowed down to watch. She hadn't competed in years, but Kim never truly quit. She probably never would.

Kim saw the girls finally done with their work out and dismounted, it was nothing special. Her left leg had been questionable lately, old injuries acting up like they often did when she was under stress.

"Why'd you dismount?" Alyx made her way over, meeting Kimberly half way. "I'm not done. I still have my dancing to do."

Kim wiped her face down then fiddled with her towel. "Well, I got something to tell you. You remember we were talking about your "thing" with McKnight? Well, I was wondering: if the two of you were okay with it, why'd you stop?"

Alyx stared for a moment then sighed. "I cut it off. He was always leaving suddenly. Then it was the lame excuses for why. So, finally I got him alone at one the Angel Grove - Reefside games. He said he wasn't looking for a good time anymore. That he had done of lot of growing and thinking lately, and that was the end of it. He wanted a mature girlfriend. So, I asked what his idea of mature girlfriend was and it turns out that I wasn't her."

Alyx looked Kim solidly in the eye. Kim sighed and shook her head.

"I just got off the phone with Jason. Turns out, Tommy's been keeping company with colour specific teenagers lately. And one of them was a soccer player with an affinity for red." Alyx laughed sarcastically and turned her head toward the ceiling as she just sort of moved around. Luna leaned against the wall as she appeared to be trying to add two and two together and was getting no other answer then fish. "I can hardly believe it myself, but it is Tommy, I suppose."

Alyx nodded as she began to laugh in earnest. "Why'd you call Jason, though?"

Kim paused her own laughter. "He and Trini invited Zack, Aisha and I over for dinner. Rocky might be coming as well, if he can pull away from the fiancé for the evening."

Alyx nodded and began making her way toward the sound controls. She chose her play list and began doing a simple routine to loosen herself up. "I'll keep it short then."

Kim nodded and headed back to her beam and continued on with her minor work out.

As Alyx moved across the floor, she thought of Conner and how this information made her feel. She realized she was okay with it. So what if he thought his experiences over the last year gave him the right to ask her to change then he could get over it and move on. It made no difference to her. Things probably would have ended in someway or another, none of them having much of hope of being pleasant. Conner could find a decent companion for himself, and she wished him the best could only find herself happy for him.

This brought her to think of how she was able to come to this conclusion so easily. The song changed to something more energetic after a small pause for her to re-stretch her muscles. Tommy and Kim's relationship had much to do with this. The way they had ended had helped her review herself and grow a little faster in regards to things ending, no matter how rock solid they seemed.

But this brought on darker thoughts. There were things she knew that next to no one had become privy to. She was once again faced with the thought that she handled things wrong. That if she had just thought things out a little better when it would have made a difference things would have not gone the way they did.

But what did it matter? It was done and everyone lived out their lives as best as they could. Nothing could have come from it. And maybe it was for the best. Kim may have never accomplished so much and Tommy might have never branched out from what he had been.

Thus she came full circle and realized that even if it may not have been the right way to handle things, it was for the best. So, she would hold on to her tidbit of knowledge for a while longer. No one but Jason, Kat and herself would know that The Letter was nothing more then the product of a jealous, hormonal would be teen temptress.

Her set changed one final time into another easy routine as the double doors of the gym were disturbed by someone entering. "You guys took forever. I was getting worried." Jason made his way over to the beam to hug his sister.

Kim was quick to remount her beam when Jason backed away. He was sure to watch her left leg. Being a football coach and well trained martial artist he knew how dangerous it was when an old injury was acting up. He looked around the gym when he was satisfied that it was nothing that would cause her harm by doing the simple routines she was engaged in.

A smile crossed his face as he took the scene in. Luna was practicing simple floor maneuvers and Alyx was tearing up her already terrifying feet. It was a common scene for summers. The gym was often empty, most of the students going off to training camps or vacations. Considering the intense training that went on during the times when her students were here, it was a nice break every now and again. One she encouraged very much. Although she agreed fully with her students being driven and determined, she knew how necessary it was take some time to family, friends and yourself. She was training girls and boys to enjoy their time with their passion, not exhaust it.

The three paused in what they were doing and took this time to fire off excuses and blame. Kim dismounted when Alyx threw an accusation her way and made her way over to the odd haired teen. Alyx met her half way and Luna, obviously feeling left out, ran over to join in the farce blame battle.

As soon as claims that Alyx's nails should listed as deadly weapons, Jason interjected. "Ladies!" They stopped and looked at him as he made his way over. "I don't care who it was. A lot of messed up and dangerous stuff has been going on in Reefside lately. I was just concerned as to what could have happened."

"Well, we're safe, obviously." Alyx folded her arms over her chest and looked at Jason with a would be angelic smile if he didn't know her. "No scary monsters or finely toned men in spandex to be found. Not that I didn't look."

Luna set her gaze on her and asked with an amused lilt in her voice, "For the monsters or the men?"

Alyx made of show of giving it thought and replied in a dead pan state, "Yes."

Everyone just chuckled and stared at her for moment. Jason looked to Kimberly with a quizzical stare. She simply shook her head. "I don't know."

"Right." Jason shook off the exchange and looked to Kim. "I came to offer you a ride so Alyx and Luna can get on with their with evening."

Kim offered her thanks and excepted the ride whole heartedly. After that the girls separated to change.


	2. Chapter 2

The forecast called for a beautifully warm yet slightly humid day. They under estimated. The heat was so intense, three teens were ready to kill their former teacher and current trainer and burry the body. The other was trying to fight an anger that only helped to make the heat more unbearable. Sweat dripped from the four of them as they stared each other down.

"Either Trent or Kira." The couple looked at Ethan with shocked faces.

"Why one of us? Why can't one of you do it?" Trent face screwed up in pain as he gingerly touched the spot where Conner had landed a rather hard kick.

"Because, you two are his favorites." Conner removed himself from the group to get a water bottle from the fridge Dr. Oliver kept in his mini-Command Center. He took a moment to stand in front of the small fridge and cool down before he made his way over the punching bag.

His friends watched him abuse the bag and couldn't help but worry. Trent winced once more when moving to observe his friend caused him to agitate the place where the kick had landed.

"Man alive, Conner. What's with you?" He touched the spot lightly then lifted his shirt to have a look. The bruise was already pooling and the force that been put into the attack was evident.

Conner froze at the bag before him. He slowly turned to watch his friend as he tested out the tender area around his new bruise. His look was dark as he watched his wounded friend finally take notice that the punching had stopped.

"Where did you hear that?" Trent looked to the others to see if they could give any hint to the unwarranted hostility his friend was aiming toward him.

"Hear what? "Man alive?"" Conner nodded and his jaw locked tighter. "A girl in this class I was taking used to say it. It was a summer art course in Angel Grove."

Conner went from hostile to recluse a moment later. He pulled away from his friends with a winded look on his face. After another moment he grabbed his duffle bag and went up stairs.

The three teens looked at each other. It was clear on all of their faces that they were worried about their friend. For about a week after and odd trip to the Reefside Wal-Mart with their equally concerning mentor, he was almost completely silent to everyone. Even his brother who was on a rare visit from his secret ninja academy. Then for this last week he had been unpredictable. If you said something wrong, wrong in his eyes at least, his mood went from docile to hostile in .5 seconds flat. Then he would either calm down and everyone would be weary of him for the remainder of the time, or he would remove himself from the group looking winded and pained.

Today was different though, he was hostile and angry right from the get-go. His friends were worried. They had no clue what was causing this or how to stop it.

Kira looked to her boyfriend as he gingerly made his way over to the fridge to get a water bottle for himself. Instead of drinking it, though, he placed it on the area of his bruise and sat himself down on a nearby chair.

Kira went over to check on him, concerned. She didn't get a chance to see the bruise considering Trent had made sure to keep out of her line of sight. She was going to see it now.

"Let me take a look at that." Trent looked hesitant then consented removing his water bottle so she could lift his shirt to take a look. "Oh, my." Kira's voice drifted off in horror as she stared at the already nasty looking bruise. After she collected her thoughts once again she quickly told him to hold his shirt up and then made her way over to the tall metal Medical cabinet across the room.

She came back with a container and unscrewed the lid to let loose the mint smell of its contents. "What is that?" Trent shot a weary look toward the only other person in the room and Ethan was engage in minor weight training.

Kira rolled her eyes gave her boyfriend a reassuring smile. "It's a healing balm that comes from this planet called Phados." She then put her fingers in the gel like substance and began rubbing over his injury.

It began to numb and the smell made him sleepy. "It is supposed to make you drowsy?" Struggled to keep his eyes focused on the girl before him.

"It does that, yes." Kira smiled at him as she began rubbing more on the area. . "Something about the way it works. It seeps in through any open surface, in this case your pours, and goes into the injury. It numbs you and sedates you like morphine. While doing that it creates artificial tissue and sends charges into your system and forces your body to work over time. Dr. O says it'll be really painful if it didn't sedate you." When she was satisfied, she closed the container and instructed him to remove his shirt

Ethan stopped his lifting and sent Kira a smirk, knowing full well why she had told him to do it, but still wanting to poke fun at her. "I was wondering how long it would take you to get his shirt off."

Kira blushed and sent a side glance toward the boy relaxing in the chair beside her. He gave her a tentative smile. "Ethan, you're a jerk. You know that it can't be rubbed against. So don't poke it, Trent."

Trent had managed to touch it for second before Kira sent her warning. The substance seemed to have hardened into a bandage of sorts and felt like silk against his fingers. It was warm against his skin and caused a sort of pulsing under it.

A clamoring from the stairs brought everyone to look to a now showered and refreshed Conner. He looked less aggressive and even ashamed when he saw the gleaming green colouring near Trent's stomach.

"I'm sorry, man. I've been stressed out lately. I didn't mean for you to get injured." The sincerity in his voice caught everyone off guard. Connor then made his way over to him and pulled Trent's left arm over his shoulder. Ethan got the hint and took Trent's other arm.

The two boys hauled the drowsy young man upstairs and headed for the door. "Kira, you go tell Dr. O that we're leaving early." Kira paused at Ethan's order and looked rather terrified.

"Why me?" She paled at the thought of Tommy's face when she told him. He didn't like them cutting training.

"Cause you're his favorite and I have to drive Trent to his house so he can rest. We'll probably just chill there for the night since Trent drove us over." The men were out the door then and Kira simply stood in the living room, trying to figure out how to avoid this. When no excuse came to her, she rolled her eyes let out an annoyed groan.

"Dr. O!" She continued to call his name as she wandered through his rather large house. Finally she gave up and slowly made her way up the stairs to the bedrooms.

She checked the two guest rooms before making her way to master bedroom. It's door was closed and she was lost on how to proceed. What if he was indecent in someway? Whimpering in dread she knocked on the door with her knuckle. No noise came from inside. Eyes widening slightly, she knocked again, louder, and called out to him. When she was met by no response again, she called up her nerves and opened the door.

Its hinges whined lightly as she stuck her head in. He was there, fully dressed, holding what looked like a picture frame in his hands. He looked lost and just gone.

"Dr. O?" His brow furrowed but he continued to look at the picture in his hands. Kira entered the room and made her way over to him. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Dr. Oliver?"

He jumped at her words and was startled by her nearness. When did she enter his room? "Yes Kira?"

She noticed that his hands were gripping the frame they held so tight that his knuckles were an unhealthy shade of white. "You okay, Dr. O?"

He started to nod then stopped and sighed. "No, I don't think I am." He loosened his grip on the picture in his hands and allowed it room enough so Kira could see it.

There he was, not as Dr. Thomas J. Oliver though, but as Tommy, his younger self. And in his arms a young woman dressed in pink. They were in a park and he appeared to be holding her off the ground. They were both smiling toward each other, blushing and eyes shut in obvious embarrassment.

The girl looked familiar. "Isn't that the original pink ranger, Kimberly Hart? The one that left to train in Florida?" Tommy nodded and continued to look at his past self and his companion. "You two were pretty close, huh?"

Tommy sighed and looked up from the picture. "Yeah, well, actually, we were in love. Or, I thought we were. I loved her. I worshiped her."

Kira looked startled at her old teacher. She had never seen him with a women. She had observed Ms. Randal's obvious flirting with him when she had been Elsa and thought he was completely ignorant to women in general by his total lack of interest.

"So, you two were together when this was taken?" Tommy nodded and handed the picture off to her. She looked at it closely and blushed at how similar this photo was to those taken of her and Trent. They really were in love. She then let lay in her lap as she looked around the room. Her eyes widened as she noticed all the pictures covering his walls.

Some of them were group photos of his different teams, there were a few from the secret Reds only mission he had gone on two years before coming to Reefside to teach high school science. There were some of them at Haley's and in other various settings. She was touched by the presence of the one they had taken the day the four teens had graduated.

But she was even more humbled by the amount of pictures where the obvious focused had been maneuvered toward Kimberly. He obviously had cared about her deeply. She wondered if maybe his attitude right now was any sign of him still loving her.

"I was so taken in by her I saw nothing wrong with her. She was my everything. She even managed to outshine my duties as a ranger. When Kim was involved all common thought left my mind. She was the star of all my ridiculous teenage thoughts. How could I make her happier? How could show her just how much I cared? Was I being to over bearing?" Tommy took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes to try and hide the moisture accumulating there.

"I was so careful to treat her as much delicacy as my teenage hormones would allow. Maybe that was the cause of the problem that I didn't know we had."

Kira looked at Tommy and saw his pain. "What happened to you two Dr. Oliver? You seem to have been so in love."

"As it turns out it was one sided. Where I thought I was being careful and considerate, she thought I was being platonic. Turns out I had never been anything but a brother to her."

Kira looked at him in confusion. "How so? There are, like, five pictures of you two practically kissing."

"I was so careful to respect her, that's about all we did. Little kisses here and there. Hand holding and hugging. Cuddling when we got the chance. For a while after it ended I blamed being a ranger. We just didn't have time. But that was out the window rather quickly when I was talking to my friends one night. They pointed out that I had been given several opportunities to make a more obvious move. She had, in fact, engineered some of them herself. I was just so scared of inadvertently hurting her that I ignored them." He chuckled at the thought. "I would have broken up with me, even."

Something wasn't adding up. "If you are so self blaming in this, why is there such underlying hostility when you talk about the break-up?'

His eyes darkened as he met his pupils gaze. "How'd you two break-up, Dr. Oliver?"

"She wrote me a "Dear John" letter and mailed it to the Youth Center. It was a more activity based early version of the Cyber Café. We were there almost every day sparing and training. She managed for it to arrive on the one day I was there, though. I hadn't been in all week cause of monster attacks and homework. That week had been so brutal. I was looking forward to surprising her by calling her. Her birthday was coming up and I was somehow managing to get everything to work so I could visit her. Then The Letter came out of no where and everything was thrown down the toilet. All the time I spent planning, all the love and care I gave her equaled to me being nothing more than a brother to her."

Kira felt her heart ache for the man in front of her. He had always been so sure and strong for her the boys that they had figured he was nothing more then a ranger. That was all he was built for. She now knew why she and Trent were his favorites. They were Tommy and Kimberly, still pure and with out the drama and heart ache of the older couple's past relationship.

"Did you call her and ask her what went wrong? See if you guys could work it out?"

Tommy just shook his head. "I was so messed up I threw myself into being a ranger and being Tommy Oliver. I didn't touch a phone for weeks and someone had to always be around me because I would avoid using my communicator. Anything that reminded me of Kim was ignored. Poor Kat didn't know what to do with herself."

Kira's brow furrowed. "She was Kim's replacement, right? The blonde girl."

"Yeah, there were days when I was so messed up, even after time had passed and I was attempting to see other people, that I would just be so mad at her when she was nothing but nice to me. Then I did a 180 one day and asked her out. We were good. Until Maranthias. As soon as I saw Kim's face on the viewing globe, I was lost in love with her all over again. I tried very hard to keep my focus on Kat but it was so difficult. And the way her and Jason acted after they were taken by the Flame of Destruction."

Kira remembered one of the gathers some of the older rangers had at Tommy's that she, the boys and Hayley had been present for. The story was one the most interesting. Evil rangers, whether they were still active or not were always a hot topic.

"The way the two of them acted, it was like I was the ultimate enemy. I couldn't get through to either of them. The spell had to be broken by the creatures we were trying to save. Then once it was, it was like the two of them were attached at the hip."

"So, you figured they were together? Did you think that maybe they just needed each other? I mean, you've told us how they were like brother and sister."

Tommy just shook his head. "I was being irrational I know, but I just couldn't help thinking it. I was a broken man. So, I just threw myself into my relationship with Kat and treated Kim like she was barely there. She didn't seem to mind. She mainly hung out with Rocky, Jason, Trini and Zack anyway."

Kira balked at this news. "Dr. O, that was not cool. We girls can appear just fine when we need to. Obviously, she needed to. You two didn't even say hello before you were celebrating that victory with your new team. That's harsh."

"I know."

Kira sat there for a moment staring at the man that looked so old and worn out right now she thought he would drop dead right there. "Why are you telling me all of this Dr. Oliver?"

"Because you gotta know to hold on to Trent. He really loves you." Tommy looked her dead in the eye and took the picture from her hands. "And I just needed someone to talk to. Hayley's determined I get over her. I'm not sure I ever will. Come on. I'll give you a ride to his house so you can check on him."

Kira agreed and they climbed into his black Jeep. They road in silence listening to the EP Kira had just made with her new band. Tommy had insisted on putting it in. He had always enjoyed listening to his young pupil perform. It was refreshing. They pulled up to the Mercer mansion and Tommy put the vehicle in park.

"I'm sorry for laying all that on you, Kira. I just needed to talk about for once. I haven't talked about it for years."

Kira smiled at her old teacher and nodded her head. "No problem, Dr. O. You've given me a lot to think about in regards to Trent and I. And I think I understand you a little better. A lot of stuff makes sense." Kira paused before exiting the car. "She was a musician, as well as a gymnast wasn't she? How'd she make it work? Being all that and developing a strong relationship with you and being a power ranger?"

Tommy simply shrugged. "How do any of us do it. We need that solid thing outside of being a ranger or we lose ourselves in it."

Kira nodded and then had another thought. "Did you ever wonder that the way things ended hurt her just as much as they did you? And also consider the type of person Kim is. From what I've heard from your old ranger friends, sending a "Dear John" letter to the Youth Center just isn't her. Just think about it."

"I will Kira, and I'm gonna send this off to my friend Tanya and see what she can do with it." He held up her EP and smiled at her.

"You're awesome, Tommy." Kira shut the passenger door and waved good bye as he pulled away.

Kira and Tommy had come to a new understanding. She had moved from his pupil to his friend and he had left the realm of teacher. They were friends and comrades.

* * *

"I still can't believe you're moving. Again." Luna watched as Alyx began filling her enormous duffle bag. "Why do you have to go? We need you here."

Alyx looked up from arranging her clothes to see her best friend pouting. "I know Luna, and I'm sorry. But I need to do this. Everything is just so messed up. If I'm there I can observe the situation better. Plus, I'll just be a com away now."

Luna thought about that for a moment and brightened until something else darkened her face. "But you'll be so close to Mr. Suave Women Ruiner."

Alyx rolled her eyes and went back to packing. "I'm over him, Luna. He's old news entirely. Plus, he has a girl now, real tree hugger apparently. I just don't know how I'm going to handle Tommy and Kat being back together."

The young girl in yellow sat straight up on her friends bed. "You're kidding."

Alyx shook her head and began telling the news she had heard from Rocky. "Apparently the two have been on and off since she got back from London five years ago. They're on again. They had coffee together after meeting at a conference. She's now working PR for Mercer. Her brother apparently owns some sort of pharmaceutical company. That Sunshine Medical. She does PR for them as well."

"Yeah, she'd be good at that." Alyx pulled her brow in confusion. She knew why she didn't like Kat, but she could never for the life of her figure out why Luna was almost as venomous as she herself.

Letting go of the darker topic, the two joked the rest of the time that they were together. There wasn't much. Tommy had called to say that there was just a run through that needed to be done then she could move in. Apparently he had to remodel some of his house.

She was very sure that he thought that she didn't know about his old days as a ranger. It made her laugh. Of course she knew. It was so obvious even when she was so young. It also helped that she went through some weird stuff as kid after she moved to Angel Grove.

_The most interesting was one day when she just happened to find a missing watch on the ground outside of the Juice Bar. At least she had thought it was a watch. It was white and made a very strange beeping noise when she pressed the flashing buttons on the sides._

_She was surrounded by white light and felt weightless as the ground under her disappeared. It was back soon, though, and she was in what she would come to find out was called the Command Center. She would also be told that it was imperative that she never tell anyone of her being there. She had managed to worm some information out of the robot she had discovered there. His name was Alpha 5 and he was there to assist to the Power Rangers._

_When she named off the civilian names of who she thought were the rangers, the poor thing began short circuiting._

"Ai yi yi!" _Alpha began waving his arms in the air and spinning in circles. Alyx tried very hard not to, but eventually she laughed. _"How could they! Don't they know how dangerous it to tell who they are? Oh, no! what are we to do? Ai yi yi!"

_This went on for a moment before a light filled the room and caught her attention. _"Alpha 5, there must be an explanation. Child, how did you come to think that those six are the rangers?"

"I know they are mister disembodied talking head man." _Alyx looked around again and walked toward the glass that contained the head. _"I'm not a silly kid. I know a ranger when I see one." _But knowing she needed to prove how she knew, she began listing. _"They wear the same color everyday. When ever a monster attacks they disappear and the rangers show up. When the monster is defeated and the rangers leave, they show up again. When Tommy get's jealous his eyes flash green. Normal eyes don't do that, trust me, I've tried."

_She took a deep breathe and then continued. _"When ever they leave in a hurry, there's generally a weird glowing light coming from wherever it is they ran off to. And I honestly don't know any other group that can be them. They just are the rangers. 'Cept when Tommy get's mad, then he's something else, but other then that, yea."

_She nodded her head signaling her finish and smile, proud of herself. Zordon was quiet for a moment. _"You know these people very well. Am I wrong young one?"

_Her face darkened for a moment then she got a determined look in her eye. _"Look Mr. Talking Head. My name is Alyx Mari Scheider, I'm one of the oldest kids in my class. Thank you very much."

_Zordon just looked at for a moment. He noticed something about her changed, her eyes got darker, and not just from her lowering her brow in anger. The colour changed all together. He found this very interesting._

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Alyx. I am Zordon. I created the power rangers."

_He looked at very carefully as she rolled her eyes and stated with an air of sarcasm, _"Of course you are. You're a giant floating disembodied head in a glass tube. What else would you be?"

_Alpha then took notice to Zordon being there after messing with the controls on the console. _"Zordon what are we to do? The rangers have their identities be known to this young child! What shall we do?"

_Zordon stared at his metal companion for a moment. _"Alpha, I am coming to realize that subtlety is not one of you're strong points."

_The robot paused for a moment before he began to short circuited again. Alyx laughed again at the poor thing and began looking around the strange place again. It was all so very… Her young mind couldn't find the right word._

_Zordon took this time to watch the young girl standing before his containment tube. Something about her was very unsettling. How could she get the transport function on the communicator to work. Only those with a connection to morphing grid could tap into that function. Alpha and Billy had made sure of that._

_He watched as the girl named Alyx walked boldly over to the console to her left and stood on her tip toes to see the key boards and screens it contained. After taking a moment to examine the board she reached her hand out pushed one of the buttons. The one she chose shocked the old Eltarian._

_The wall behind the console she was at opened and revealed what appeared to be a cylinder of pulsing blue energy. She looked at as if looking at a rock. She then lifter her hand and let the pure morphing grid energy run over it. She closed her eyes and the right side of her face began to glow. Soon an energy of her own began pulsing around her in a very bright pink. Images of her flashed. She was still there but like ghosts, her at different stages in life flashed around, as if standing there with her, as her._

_Soon the energy began to fade and she opened her eyes. For a time, they were glowing the same blue as the Grid energy, but that, too, faded. Remaining stoic, she removed her hand and stepped away from the energy. She looked at Zordon with a sheepish grin._

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure I did if something wrong or not. I kinda just go for whatever is in my reach. My mom says I would be a problem if I wasn't who I am. Whatever that means."

_Zordon looked at the young girl and he finally figured it out. _"Child, you have much to learn. I want you to keep that wrist band. We'll be seeing each other again. I promise."

_She cocked her head and looked at who she figured was something that wasn't originally from here. It's not like you saw giant floating disembodied heads unless you were watching the Wizard of Oz._

"Um, well. It's too big for me. And it's Tommy's. So…" _She looked down at the wrist band that he had called a Communicator. Her eyes widened. It was no longer silver and white but was black and pink now. She came to the conclusion that rather weird looking watch type things were even more weird then she thought._

"No, Alyx, that is yours. You are going to be my connection to the future when I can't be there. You are the future and past of the Power Rangers."

_Something in her told her to believe him. _"Okay. Zordon something's feels really wrong with that energy. It feels sad and lost. And I think something really bad is going to happen. But, I think it needs to happen."

_Zordon observed her words and the broken look on her face. _"Child, you are very special. I will see you again. For now, though, you should get back to the Youth Center. Just press the two buttons on the sides like you did to get here."

_Alyx smiled at the kind being. _"Kay. Bye Zordon, bye Alpha."

_Alpha had come to terms that a small human child knew almost everything and felt sad about her leaving. _"Good bye, Alyx. Until we meet again."

"Don't short circuit next time."_ She pointed her finger at him with an authoritative look on her face. Then smiled and transported out of the Command Center and into a bathroom inside the Youth Center._

She smiled at the memory as she let her dogs in from the back yard. It wasn't anything special. Just a small thing that had on one time had grass on it. Now, thanks to her brilliant canine children, it was just dirt and dust. Sighing she heard them running through the house and continuing their play until the found food and began eating soundly.

The night seemed to drag on. Kim was having a meeting with the older rangers. Probably discussing why her coin didn't work again. It was a hot topic.

She held the gold piece that hung around her neck on it's leather tether.

The ornate wolf head portrayed on it seemed to glare at her, as if it were her fault. "You're the one who's not doing any work, Mr. High-and-Mighty-Ranger-Coin." She stuck her tongue out toward the coin then dropped it with a sigh. "This place is such a drag."

Surveying the room once more, she finally had enough. Getting up loudly she made her way from the kitchen and went to her room.

* * *

Conner cheered as Kira took a bow with her new band. They had a good sound. Conner felt happy for his friend and former team mate. She was really driven in her music.

Krista hugged his side and smiled at him, enjoying a bit of the old Conner tonight. For the past month he had been so out of it. She really did care for him, always had. Even when she was a kid. He had never taken notice to her being there since they were kids, but she had always noticed him.

"She's so awesome, Conner. It's so great that you invited me to come and support her." Conner smiled at the girl at his side and hugged her close. This is the way it's supposed to be. He constantly had repeat the phrase like a mantra. It was the only way to keep his thoughts from his past.

"I'm glad you could make it." He kissed her gently then looked back at the stage. The DJ had come back and was announcing that they would be returning to the usual entertainment provided by the club but that he was more then happy to share the spot light with Yellow Stone anytime they could make an appearance.

Kira's face was so bright the dark club looked like a summer day. Conner looked to the man on his left. Trent was clapping and whooping for his girlfriend, still and only stopped when Conner punched his arm and snickered at him.

The whole gang had shown up to support their friend. Conner sighed and worked to keep his smile on his face. 'This is getting to be really difficult.' He thought as he watched everyone around them start to dance in the common practice for club goers.

He'd been keeping up this charade for about a week and it was really beginning to wear him out. A remix of a country song came on and he was gone again. Images of a woman he could never have ran through his head. Instinctively, he surveyed the room. He knew it was in vein, but he had to look.

That's when he saw her. Her long purple, green and pink locks were let free to bounce and move along with her body as she kept up with the beat. Her body was fit and luscious and moved as if it was made for seducing even the most sensible of men. And she was dressed for it, too. Clad in blue jean cut-offs and a short, form-fitting pink dress. Her flat boots hugged her calves all the way up to her knees.

She was stunning and Conner was a broken man forever more. Krista was busy catching up with Ethan on what he had done with his summer so far and what were his plans after. She wouldn't notice right now if he just slipped away.

He turned back to the girl in pink. As much as he really did like Krista, she was a rebound from a time when he didn't know that he was rebounding. It wasn't healthy to date a rebound as long as he was dating her.

Shaking his head, he forced the thought out of his head and ignored his urge to go dance with the pink clad temptress. It didn't matter whether he was rebounding or not. He chose to be in a relationship with her and until he could no longer care for her as more then a friend in anyway, he would hold to his decision. Still, watching the girl wouldn't be the end of everything.

Alyx couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. As she moved to the beat, dancing with no one really, she tried to look around with out it being obvious. That's when she saw him.

He was wearing green, a different colour for him. She instantly felt the tingle run up her spine and she cringed. How could this be happening?

Why was he even here?

She then noticed the lead singer from the band that had performed give him a hug and realized that he must know her. Figures that the one night she decides to go and enjoy herself would be the same night his friend was playing at her favorite scene in Angel Grove.

She looked away when she saw his head twitch her way. She wasn't ready to face him. She still wasn't over everything that had happened. Sure, they had both made mistakes but they way he thought he was so much mature now rubbed her the wrong way. But still.…

Slowly she returned her focus to the world around her. The dancing had continued and the world turned around her. She began to fall back into the beat and let the lyrics and bass fill her mind as she pushed thoughts of Conner McKnight.


	3. Chapter 3

Kimberly sighed in frustration. They were getting no where. Billy had signed off the intergalactic com at least an hour ago. He had found nothing wrong with Alyx's DNA. She had the same molecular structure every other Ranger possessed. With the expected exception of her personal signature of course.

"Alyx Schreiber, you are an anomaly." Trini had as little luck as Kim and Billy. She'd been going over tests and results for hours. They were still right at the same place they had started in four months ago.

Alyx was a Pink Ranger who couldn't morph.

Rubbing her eyes Kim leaned back in her chair, trying to relax her sore muscles. She'd had some trouble keeping things peaceful lately. Her team was, well, bad. They were dysfunctional, hated each other and the only thing the men could think about was how their muscles showed off in the armor and how hot Luna looked in the spandex like material.

"There has to be something we're missing, Tri. I can't just let her stay this way. You should see the look in her eyes when a call for action comes and all she can do is sit here and play Billy." Kimberly knew what it felt to be a Ranger and not be able to tap into the Power. It felt wrong, like you were committing slow suicide. What made it worse was there were spirit animals involved here. She was cut off from what was essentially her own soul. Kim knew all to well what it was like to be cut off from that.

Trini sighed and looked her friend in the eye. "Maybe it's time we look at this from a different angle."

Kimberly looked at her as if she had grown a second head. "What other angle, Trini? We've exhausted every angle their can be. Short of sending her off to Phaedos of course, which I am mulling over. Andros still owes me that favor."

Trini's face was grave and it sent a cold chill through Kim's body. Suddenly she didn't want to hear what the Asian girl had to say. "We need to look at the angle that she's not meant to be a Ranger."

Kim couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Alyx is supposed to be a Ranger. She has the medallion. She was the first one to have this generation's morpher. Hell, she gave everyone their morphers."

"Exactly, Kim. She was holding on to them until the right person came along. Just like she was with the other's medallions. She's a keeper, but maybe not a Ranger."

Kimberly felt ill. She knew in her heart that Alyx was the one meant for the Terror Ranger powers. She was the only one that fit the bill. But the way Trini had been putting things over the last few months, even she wasn't so sure any more.

"We need more help."

Trini sighed in frustration. Kim knew her lack of seeing reason was beginning to wear down on her friend's patience. She just couldn't give up yet. Until that coin was in the hands of its supposed true owner, she would keep digging until she found an answer.

"Who do you suggest we bring in?"

Kim felt a sheepish smile twitch the edges of her mouth. "Well, I don't think we need to contact anyone. I think we just need to let time run it's course." Trini looked confused and off her footing for the first time since they had started this conversation. "I think we should just sit back and observe what happens when she fending for herself away from the team."

Trini's eyes went wide with evident horror. "You're saying to just leave her to defend herself as she goes into the lions den. I've been worried several times over the span of our existence as friends but I think you truly have flipped your lid this time. She has no power, Kim. No protection. She'll die."

"Trini, we'll be a com away of course and I intend to watch her very closely myself. Just with out her immediate knowledge. Sunshine Medical won't touch her, I can promise you that."

Trini looked unsure. Kim cared for the girl, everyone could see that. She saw something about herself in Alyx. Something she'd wished she could have explored more in her own youth. But the resent villain seemed to have a personal vendetta against Kim and it was rubbing he entirely the wrong way.

"So what are you hoping will happen if she thinks she's cut off from the Rangers?"

"Her Ranger instinct will kick in. The sense of danger will jump start her need for the Power's protection and activate her connection with the Morphing Grid. It's what happened when I got my Ninjetti powers back. And Jason told me that it's what happened when his powers came back as well."

Trini blushed at the memory of the Power's return to their lives. The three hadn't told anyone except Billy, Rocky, Aisha and Kimberly herself. It was a delicate thing when a retired Ranger was suddenly able to morph again. Kimberly nearly fainted of shock when it happened to her.

Sighing, Trini accepted the battle would not be one by either party tonight and went back to going over papers. They continued on an annoyed silence.

About an hour later, Kim and Trini called it a night. Well after 11, Kimberly took the long way home to think. She was just passing the "You are now leaving Angel Grave" sign, when she found a small dirt clearing along the road.

Turning on her signal, she turned right and parked her car in the center of the clearing. After just sitting for a moment looking out the front window, she put down the top and turned off the car.

The familiar pulse of the headache that pent up morphing power caused began filling her head. It never bothered her unless she was remembering the days the followed the end of the Ninjetti era. Since then she'd been careful to regulate her morphs, trying to let loose some of the excess about once a week. Luckily Zordon had given her back her morpher before the he died.

But no matter how much she regulated the releases, whenever she thought of the events leading up to and fallowing the return the Power she felt sick. It was like someone was beating a drum in her head. Then it would shift into a bad case of vertigo. After that she would be left weak and unable to move for wanting to hurl at a slight shift of her head.

Kim let her seat back and tried to breathe evenly as the stars began to shift from side to side and in slight circles. It was difficult, but the symptoms passed quicker if she let her mind walk through the memories with out her trying to block or guide them.

Kim sighed as she remember the events that brought her to where she is now. It was painful and happy at the same time. No matter the feeling, she just wanted to forget all of it, but the Crane inside her wouldn't allow it. Her eyes slipped shut and she let the past carry her away.

_The Power had been destroyed as far as she had known. She could feel it's passing as well. She was ill and lost. She nearly injured herself during training for the Pan Global games and almost got kicked off the team. The only thing that kept her going was Tommy. But what he described and the pain she felt seemed so different. She chocked it up to having separated herself from the coin and the Crane and giving them up to Kat. Little did she know it was a prophecy of pain to come._

_Everyone was so distant from one other. Trini, Jason and Zack were still abroad. Aisha was in Africa. The others were busy with Ranger business. She was training to fulfill her dream. They were all so busy leading very different lives. It shouldn't have been so surprising that things happened the way they did._

_She couldn't really blame Tommy and Kat. She had known the Australian girl was attracted to him. She just didn't know the feeling was mutual. Time and distance changes things, and love isn't any different apparently._

_All the logic in the world wouldn't have changed the amount of pain and betrayal that ripped through her like white hot fire the day she found out from Rocky. She'd finally managed to get someone on the phone for the first time in weeks and it was like he wanted nothing to do with her. He had rushed the conversation and did everything he could make her feel unwanted. Then he dropped that bomb and all she could do was say that she was happy for them, she guessed, and that she hoped everyone remained safe and the power continued to protect them._

_She then walked. She wasn't sure where, exactly. It was way after curfew. Heck, the sun would be coming up in an hour. She didn't notice._

_Waves lapped up onto the shore as she tried to sort through her thoughts. Her wondering had found her on the beach not far from the training center. The cool ocean breeze was a comfort to her heated skin. She'd been crying hard for the last 5 minutes, just standing on the beach looking over the dark water and to the lightening sky._

_How could Tommy do this to her? No contact at all for weeks, months and he was with Kat. Her replacement._

_Her lungs and throat hurt form the abuse they had gone through during her crying. Her heart ached. Nothing seemed real anymore and all she wanted was to wake up in the morning and have it all be a bad dream. But the morning was breaking and she was still hurting._

_She watched as the sky lightened before her eyes. The sun was coming and with it a whole new chapter of her life. A chapter with out Tommy or the Rangers. One with out her friends and old team mates. It was just her in this life now._

_That's when everything clicked._

_Tommy was with Kat, she was alone and her friends apparently didn't want anything do to with her. Nothing about this made sense. But something about this sure was right: If Tommy would throw away what they had so easily, then what was the point of crying._

_She still did though and all the crying in the world wasn't going to do anything to change it._

_All she could do with herself was throw herself into the training. Keeping busy was the most important thing to her right now and proving him wrong. Letting Tommy know that he couldn't hurt her enough to make her quit._

_She worked and worked and even when they were on a small break to relieve stress before the games, she didn't stop. She didn't think about anything other then training and winning the gold. It wasn't until Jason showed up on her apartment door step and wouldn't leave until they talked that she put any further thought into what happened with Tommy and the others._

_So, they talked._

"So, Kim. You like cutting everyone out of your life?" Jason fixed her with a hard glare. Kim returned it with the only facial expression she could manage.

He took in her dumbfounded expression before it changed into a harsh laugh. "You've got to be kidding me? Nothing, from any of you, for months! Then, all of the sudden, when I'm about to compete in the biggest gymnastics event of my life, you come onto my doorstep. You shove your way into my home and refuse to leave until we "talk." So I sit down and say "Fine, let's talk." I'm being nice here and you want to accuse me of cutting everyone off. Jason Lee Scott, get the hell out of my apartment."

Jason stood there for a moment, not sure where to go from here. The all out rage that burned within Kimberly's normally soft brown eyes hurt his heart.

"What are you talking about? Of course we wouldn't call after what you did. What made you think things would just be okay after that? We all needed time, you, Tommy all of us, but we thought after things cooled that you would try and get in touch with some of us."

Kim couldn't quite figure out what he was doing. "What I did? You mean what HE did. What SHE did. What they DID TOGETHER. How you all just let it happen with out telling me. You got a good laugh at poor little Kimmy all the way on the other side of the country, clueless as to how worthless to everyone she is."

Jason stood stunned after her rant. Clearly she was missing something about this conversation. "What did you expect him to do? Sit and mope and pine for you forever? I know you like fairytales, Kim, but this is the real world. The guy had to move on, it wasn't healthy. The way he was after the letter you sent…."

"What letter? I never sent him any letter that said anything other then how much I missed him, loved him and was trying my hardest to make it all worth while."

Jason felt like he had been slapped. Did she really think he didn't know what happened? "You know what letter, Kimberly. Did you think Tommy wouldn't tell me. We were on the phone for three hours talking about how empty he felt and how pointless everything seemed. You should have heard the things he was saying about you. He was talking as if you were born of the stars and kissed by the gods. It was ridiculous."

Her glare returned full force and she slowly stalked toward him. "You listen to me, Scott. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm completely clueless in this conversation, but I'm picking up the vibe that we are on completely different plains in totally different realms of reality. So, here's the deal. You, leave, NOW, and pass on the message that I'm fine and happy for both Tommy and Kat. I'll even send a gift when they set the date for the shot gun wedding."

A dark chuckle slipped through her lips as she turned away from Jason and went to sit down on the clearly hand me down couch in her small living room.

"Kim. This is ridiculous. I'm not mad about what you did. You're both still kids. Things happen. I know you had your reasons for breaking things off. I just want to make sure you're okay. We used to be so close. Why didn't you at least tell me, or Trini, about it. It hurts is all." Jason sent her a pleading look and she just scoffed.

"Right. Tell you. Being his bro, you would've consoled me on one line and praised him on the other. And Trini would take your side, which ever you talked about more, because she's in love with you. I would be the poor other women who had no clue, while everyone else got their jollies talking about me at the Juice Bar.

"Listen, Jason, I love you but I refuse to be seen as the poor girlfriend left in the dark. I'm stronger then that. I'm one of the favorites to take gold in the freaking Pan Global games, for heavens sake. Even with everything that happened. You go tell Tommy I'm fine and I'm happy for him and his new Pink Ranger. This one's doing great with out him."

Jason stuttered for a moment, trying to process this new information and came to one conclusion. "You never sent Tommy a Dear John letter, did you?"

Kim looked like she'd been slapped in the face. Didn't she say this several times already? "No, Jason, I didn't. Why would I do that?"

It took a moment to rework his thought process to fit around this. After a moment he blushed as he realized how ridiculous everything sounded.

He admitted quietly that he couldn't figure it out himself now that he thought about it. He called himself several things for a few minutes then fell on the couch beside her.

"As far as you know, Tommy had been cheating on you with Kat. Is that right?"

She nodded at him with a stoic face.

"Oh, Kim. Something very wrong is going on here. Tommy thought you had cheated on him then sent him a letter. He thinks that you think of him as a brother. That you're in love with someone else."

Kimberly looked at him like his head just sprouted wings and flew away. For a moment everything was quiet, then she busted out laughing. All Jason could do was stare at her.

"He really is going to throw away what we had over a letter? It must have been pretty convincing. Other then saying that I thought of him like a brother and had fallen in love some other wacko, of course."

Jason cleared his throat in embarrassment. Hearing her say it out loud made it all sound insanely ridiculous. He could barely look at her as he thought of the minor detail involving the letter that he had yet to tell her.

"What?" Kimberly watched him suddenly take a deep interest in the room around him.

"It wasn't only the contents of the letter. It was where you sent it." Kim's face went white. "You, at least a letter meant to seem like it was from you, had it sent to the youth center around the time of your birthday. It was a Dear John letter addressed to Tommy. He was weight lifting, so, he asked Adam to read it to him out loud. He was expecting it to be one of your normal letters. Instead the contents nearly made him drop the bar he was lifting."

Kim couldn't speak for a moment. Tears she had been holding in began to choke her. "Jason, I would never do that. How could he not know that? Why didn't he call me? Or come here to investigate what was going on? Why would he let something so clearly bogus come between what I thought we had?"

"The Machine Empire was keeping them busy. They didn't have time. That and Kat was so busy trying to get him over it as quick as possible. She was really worried about him. We all were."

Kim laughed through her sobs. "I bet she was. I'm sure she worked real hard to get him to move on."

"Kim-"

"Jason, don't. She's been after him since she showed up. Which I can understand. Plus, the girl's and opportunist. I can respect that. Tommy being distracted during battle isn't a good thing either. I hold no grudges."

Jason hugged her as another set of sobs rocked through her body. Kim was grateful to finally have a shoulder to cry on. She clung to Jason, her brother, and felt a little bit of peace settle over her.

"So, what are you going to do?" Jason got up and picked up the box of Kleenex from where it sat on the TV.

Kim muttered her thanks and took a moment to wipe her tears and blow her nose. "What do you mean?"

"About Tommy and the Letter."

"Nothing." Kim threw her used Kleenex onto the warn coffee table and grabbed a few more.

"What do you mean nothing? You have to tell him."

Kim stopped cleaning herself up for a moment and fiddled with the Kleenex in her hand, her head down. Jason just looked at the top of her head and waited for her to explain, but what she asked threw him off.

"Is he happy?"

Jason was silent for a moment as he tried to process what she could mean by the question.

"Jason, it's a simple "yes" or "no" question. Is Tommy happy? With out me."

Jason wasn't quite sure how to answer that. On the surface, he looked happy. But underneath, well, sometimes you could read him. These days it was hard to tell how he was really feeling. The man was a total dead zone when he wasn't interacting with people. Even his fighting was empty these days.

"Um, it looks that way."

"Well, there you go. He's happy. I'm leaving it that way. No reason to possibly ruin a happy couple over something that's a moot point now. You forget the Tommy Oliver guilt factor. What ever he's possibly recovering or is already recovered from could come back and it would be worse then before. Much worse. I can't do that to him."

Jason leaned against the wall as he watched Kim pick up her used Kleenex and he fallowed her as she made her way into the kitchen. She opened her fridge and pulled out a gallon of water. As she filled a glass from the drying rack by sink, Jason just stood there watching her.

"So, that's it. You're giving up?"

"Nope." She leaned against the counter, taking a healthy drink from her glass and watched as his big frame filled the doorway. "I'm bowing out gracefully. I'm not stupid and I'm not a glutton for punishment. That's why I'm no longer a Ranger. I know when I've been licked."

"You're bowing out gracefully?"

She raised her arms and bowed her head. "Thus ends the fairy tale of the Pink Crane and her White Falcon. The Tommy and Kim book has closed. Final print. No continuation. No re-write."

Jason stood where he was, having no clue where to go from here.

"Where are you staying?"

Again, he was thrown for a loop. "I hadn't gotten that far in my planning."

"Believe it or not, I have an extra bed. You can stay here."

Jason took in her attempt of a smile and decided to go along with it. She was right about one thing. Tommy would be in a bad shape if he knew he threw away Kim without meaning to. There was one thing that she had yet to cover in all her explaining tonight, though.

"Just answer me one last question." She sighed, looked him in the eye, and nodded. "Did you try and get a hold of Tommy, any of them, when things started getting weird?"

"When my birthday was approaching, I got this feeling. I shook it off. Thought maybe it was just the after shock of the Power being destroyed. Then he missed my birthday. No phone call, no card, nothing. So, I started calling, and I continued to call until I finally got a hold of Rocky. He told me what was going on, in a very cold, uncaring and harsh way, and I didn't call again."

Jason nodded and asked where the room was. She led him there with a sad smile and they said their good nights. Kim laid awake for hours thinking about everything. When she finally went asleep, she had a weird dream that just continued to repeat itself through out the night.

She was in a wedding dress and she walking up the aisle with Tommy on the other the end. She blinked. Suddenly she was she wasn't being escorted by her dad anymore, and she was no longer in a wedding dress. She was in a horribly cut, pink brides maid out fit and Rocky was walking her down the aisle. The whole thing continued until Tommy and Kat were standing in front of each other. The two of them were wearing masks. Tommy had one of happiness and Kat had of one of angle. Her right hand was behind her back and she was holding a letter addressed to Tommy at the Juice bar. It was in Kim's hand writing.

Kim finally awoke in a cold sweat at one in the morning. She needed out. She needed to clear her head. Never in her life, other then when dreams of a French mole stealing her and her mother away plagued her nights back in high school, had she remembered a dream so vividly.

Getting dressed, she left the apartment, quietly, and made her way to the beach. She couldn't think of anything. There was nothing in her head but dead air. So she stared out over the ocean until well after the sun rose and Jason found her sitting there at the water's edge. He sat down by her and pulled her to his side.

"Kim, why don't we go see our friends in Angel Grove."

"I have the Pan Global games in a month. I can't leave."

"Okay. After."

There was a pause as Kim thought this over for a moment.

"Sure."

After that Jason was quiet for a time. Soon, though, he broke the silence.

"There was another reason I came here."

Kim looked up at him and saw the pain in his features. "Jason, what's wrong?"

"For a time, I was the gold Ranger."

She gave a soft smile. "I figured. I was just waiting for you to confirm it. I'd know your fighting style anywhere, Jason. I've been watching you fight for years, remember?"

He blushed a little. "I just wasn't sure if you kept up with what was going on with the Power Rangers lately. I thought that after everything that happened…."

"Jason, nothing could stop me from caring for and supporting all of them."

"Yeah. I was being a little ridiculous with that idea. It's just, I'm kinda bitter myself. I was really enjoying being back in the swing of things. I had a girl that I was really liking. It was going great, then the power of the Gold Ranger started to reject me. I got sick and I had to give it up. Emily and I started going down hill. I needed to get away from everything. Kat and Tommy were just starting the rub me the wrong way."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, not so much Tommy, but Kat. She has this way of acting when anyone who was close to Kim comes around. She gets really touchy feely with Tommy and acts like she's a saint. Adam and Rocky ignore. I just couldn't do it anymore. So, I figured, who would be the one person who I could really talk to? Who would understand with out biased?"

He nudged Kim and she smiled. "I'm glad you came, Jason. I've needed a good friend for so long now."

Jason hugged her close and they sat for a moment before getting up. Jason wanted to see where she'd been living for the past year, and hear about everything she'd been up to.

"So, you graduated early?" Jason focused on her as she ate her low fat frozen yogurt.

"I've been keeping myself busy. It was the only way not to dwell on things. You have no idea how many times I've almost called him and begged him to take me back. I'd go mad thinking about what I could've done different if I kept my mind idle."

Jason nodded. He understood how that felt. "So, you're all grown up and out of high school. Welcome to the ranks."

Kim chuckled and had another spoonful of her frozen desert. She stared for a moment at Jason's large nearly devoured Banana Split. "Yeah, thanks. You're such a sadist."

Jason let an evil smirk cross his face before taking a big bite. He let it melt in his mouth as his face twisted into one of exaggerated ecstasy.

She shrieked and threw a wadded up napkin at his head. Jason laughed and she soon followed as ice cream dripped down his chin.

"I'm really happy you're here, Jason." She calmed down and got up to throw away her empty ice cream bowl. Jason followed suit and they headed out of the small ice cream shop and began heading back to Kim's apartment.

"I'm glad I came to, Sis."

So, Jason moved in. Things were good. They enjoyed having each other's company and it was like they'd never been oceans apart for years.

Jason kept in touch with Rocky, Tommy and Adam. Kim enjoyed hearing about his stories of his life as the Gold Ranger. When her training started up again about week after his arrival Jason began wondering around Miami until he found a garage to work at. It was an interesting place. Definitely different then Angel Grove.

They had just began to get comfortable with the way things were when the Pan Global games finally came around. Jason traveled with her and was there to watch her perform. He was there to watch her win gold and share that moment with her and her family. It was a wonderful time, but she still wished she could have shared it with Tommy.

She was still drying her eyes when Jason led her through the Angel Grove airport toward the pick up area where his mother was waiting for them.

"Jason, Kim. It is so good to have you two back." Kim returned the older woman's embrace and smiled.

"It's good to be back. For a little while, anyway." Mrs. Scott smiled and led them to her car where they loaded up their bags and left to get settled in at the Scott home.

The two stayed at the house that, planning out when they would and how they would meet back up with the others.

"Are you sure they're going to be okay with this?" Kim was still worried as they suited up in their scuba gear. Jason had suggested it as a way to relax. She had always loved scuba diving, it was one of things she and Jason had in common. "I mean, it's not like any of them are really happy with me right now."

"Kim, relax. I'm telling you, this will go smoother than you think. Rocky and Adam miss you, and though Tanya is being somewhat of a brat about the whole you and Tommy situation, everyone else will get over what ever problems they have. You're their friend Kim. They love and miss you."

Kim smiled at Jason's efforts to cheer her up. "But what about Tommy?"

"What about Tommy?" Jason busied himself with making sure their oxygen tanks were good. "He'll be happiest of all to see you. It'll be fine, I promise."

He helped her secure her oxygen tank then put his on. "Yeah, so you say, but-"

"Look, Kim." Jason interrupted her and sat himself on the edge of his families old aluminum fishing boat. "It'll be great. You're just stressing. Which is why we're out here instead of barging into their martial arts tournament training. Now breathe in deep a few times and prep yourself for focusing on amazing underwater life instead of Tommy possibly hexing you with Hell fire the moment he sees you."

"Yeah, but that's not what I'm worried he'll do." Kim left it at that and secured her mouth piece before falling backward off of the small boat and into the ocean below.

Jason soon followed and the two began to leisurely make their way over the sandy bottom. Just as she had promised, Kim focused on the ecosystem around them. The fish and plants were a nice distraction from her mind, which was left idle much to often lately.

It wasn't long that she could enjoy the piece and quiet. She felt a vicious pull on her oxygen tank then she was breathing in water. The last thing before she saw before blacking out from a blow to her head and lack of oxygen was some metallic freak doing the same to Jason.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed between the attack and Jason shaking her awake but one thing was certain. They weren't in Kansas anymore and neither Toto nor creepy dancing munchkins could be found. She groaned as she assessed what damage had been done. Her lungs, mouth and throat were burning from the intake of ocean water. Her head hurt from the impact it had taken when she was knocked out. And to top it off, her whole body felt like it had been dropped kicked in every place possible by a big gorilla.

"Jason, this has got to be the worst idea of how to relax." She got up and tried to ignore the pain from her stiff and abused body. "I'm never vacationing with you again."

Jason gave a dry laugh as he watched his old friend rub her head where he figured the metallic creature had whacked her. "'Cause this is my favorite way to spend my free time. I absolutely love being held up by bad guys and being beaten."

"I know you do, that's why you spent so much time in Zedd's Dark Dimension. I always had a feeling you got off on that. This just proves it."

Jason watched her take off her head gear and shake out her hair. He followed suit, scowling at her. "Kim, sometimes I really wish I didn't know you."

"You'd be bored to tears if I wasn't around and you know it." He took in her smile and then smiled himself.

"Yeah, you're right." They went silent then, their smiles leaving as they observed their surroundings. "Kim…."

"Yeah."

"I think we're in major trouble."

Kim would have scoffed if she wasn't so worried about their situation. "I'd say." That was the understatement of the year. "Wish we could morph."

What she wouldn't give to have her old Crane powers back. A throbbing began over her right eye at the thought of her spirit animal powers. She rubbed her head and continued to look around to try to figure out where they were.

Jason tested out a giant bolted door to see if it was week in anyway. "It doesn't look like there's anyway out."

Kim felt a lump form in her stomach and the throbbing in her head grew a little bit stronger before dulling and fading away oddly calming waves.

It was a long trip, with Kim feeling very week. Jason looked for every possible way for them to get out. The addition of an even more messed up Bulk and Skull did nothing to help to the situation.

Jason finally worked out a plan after sometime and figured out that they were most likely in the bilge of a sub.

"Really, this is just ridiculous." Kim leaned against the wall of the bilge and tried to hold onto consciousness. The rest of the trip was a blur.

Her head began pounding again, and she could hear a voice in her head, calling to her. It sounded so familiar. It was so warm and inviting. It told her everything would be okay as long as she kept her heart opened to the truth that she knew and allowed nothing to get her to turn her back on her friends. On Tommy. Along with the voice she could hear the faint call of the Crane and the even softer sound of her beloved Falcon. They were the only thing she could focus on the whole of the trip until it was finally time to commence with the chosen plan of escape. It was a crazy and suicidal plan, but then again, they usually were.

The voices and Jason's reassuring gaze were what kept her from screaming her head off as the water began to fill the bilge. But nothing stopped the panic that filled her when the spill way door didn't open and nothing compared to the feeling of relief that followed when it finally did. Death had never seemed so close in those two moments and she had spent the better part of her teenage years as a Ranger.

Swimming as hard as she could toward the surface, she was conscious only long enough to break the surface before she finally passed out from exhaustion. It wasn't until she was being tied up and carried off on a decorated ceremonious stretcher that she realized either Jason didn't make it or had abandoned her on shore.

Not that she believed the latter but it was confirmed to be impossible when he was being dragged along with the space pirates as her captors met them at the sealed off entrance to a mountain.

They met gazes as the weight of what was happening finally hit them full on. They were to be sacrifices to awake an ancient evil. Soon. If the Rangers were going to save them, they had better kick it into gear, otherwise they were monster bait. Literally.

They continued to struggle and try to escape as they were prepared to be sacrificed. The ones who found Kim passed out on the beach, the followers of Maligore, began chanting and moving in a ceremonious dance to summon the creature they worshipped.

"You're sick, you know." Jason whispered urgently in her ear for her to shut up, but she wouldn't listen. "Marrying ancient evil. You know they are completely ugly nine times out of ten."

Divatox laughed obnoxiously and danced over to the edge of the alter they were being dangled over. "He's the Eternal Flame. Who cares? I'll be all powerful. Besides, what do you know? You're just a broken birdie who forgot how to fly. Your own boyfriend was so sick of you wearing him down he was quick to believe a poorly written lie. I'm not about to listen to you."

Smirking at the dark look that filled Kimberly's eyes she leaned forward, placing her hands on the ledge and looking up at her. "I know the truth of what happened. The evil universe rejoiced when the dynamic duo were through. Though, he never did seem quite as broken as you still appear to be. Poor little lost Crane.

"Do yourself a favor, Kim, and give yourself over to the Flame when it calls to you. You just may find peace in it. Strength." With that she paused for a moment, giving Kim a hard look before laughing once more and sauntering back to her minions. She stayed there through out the rest of the ceremony, calling to Maligore and laughing like a lunatic as the Rangers fought against her horde of Piranhatrons. It was futile. They were too late. Kimberly looked on in horror as she felt her and Jason being lowered into the burning flame and lava below.

Heat consumed her whole being. She heard the screams of the Rangers as they tried to save them still, but she could feel it within her soul that they were to late. A voice came into her thoughts that agreed wholly with that assumption.

"He abandoned you again. He's always abandoned you. At every turn, when things get hard, he runs away."

"What are you talking about? Who are you talking about?"

"Tommy."

Heat and pain tore through her as images ran through her head of Kat and him together.

"Why are you doing this?" She felt tears well up in her eyes and spill over, turning to steam. Her whole being was on fire.

"So you will except the truth and my help in seeking revenge on the two of them. And on those who let it happen."

Revenge. She hadn't considered that approach. It sounded so easy now, and it made the most sense. Why not let them pay? Make them pay?

She remembered what Divatox had said to her before she signaled her Piranhatrons to begin lowering them.

"_Do yourself a favor, Kim, and give yourself over to the Flame when it calls to you. You just may find peace in it. Strength."_

"You'll help?"

"Yes."

The voice shifted from one of comfort to one of evil as the fire in her intensified. She soon found herself standing on the ledge of the alter that her and Jason had been lowered into. He was at her side as they came into consciousness and took in the scene around them.

All she could focus on was the voice in her head telling her of everything Tommy and Kat had done to her. All she could see were the images of them broken and maimed in the physical equivalent of the emotion pain she went through. A cold satisfaction went through her as she shoved Kat and the other Rangers around as if they were the stuffed animals that had covered her bed as a younger girl, laughing at the thought of her in pain.

The fact that Tommy had taken off his helmet registered in her mind, and almost deterred her from that fact that she wanted vengeance. Then Kat cut in and she was reminded of her goal. A pound of flesh for every tear she shed over him.

Red anger tinted her vision as she watched Jason trying to shove Tommy into the flame. The voice in her mind began to unravel another possibility. He could be all hers forever. All that would have to happen was he be tossed into the fire and she would win. The mantra began leaking through her lips as she rubbed her hands together in contained joy.

"Into the fire, come on. Into the fire." An unabashed, smile of victory lit up her face as her fire red eyes danced with the possibilities of eternity.

She was so focused on Tommy and Jason she didn't notice the aliens had joined ranks. She felt a warmth flow through her that had nothing to do with the Eternal Flame. It was goodness and it whispered words of loyalty and love. Words that pulled on the deepest part of her heart. She grabbed onto to them and came out of the darkness, looking on the seen with clean eyes once again.

The Piranhatrons soon caught on to the fact that she was no longer on their side. She dodged attacks and watched in horror as Jason nearly fell into the fire once more and she ran over to offer an assist. Her heart skipped a beat at the light in Tommy's eyes that had always shined for her.

"I'm with you." She put as much feeling as she could into those words that the situation would allow. He smiled in gratitude and the two of them worked together to pull Jason back up. The odd peace of the moment was short lived though as she once again dodged creatures and watched as Jason looked and wondered with a blank stare on his face.

Until his eyes focused on her and something strange happened. She felt him, in her mind. Like he was touching her thoughts. Then, she heard him speak.

"_You abandoned me."_

"_What?"_

"_I thought you would want this, as I do. Vengeance on Tommy for all he's done. For what he did to you and the embarrassment he's placed on me."_

She was so confused at this point all she could do was dodge Divatox's metallic fish men and try to stay alive.

"_What are you talking about, Jason?"_

He paused for a long moment before her head erupted in pain. _"The team never failed or was destroyed when I was leading. How many Power changes has the team and the makeshift versions he pulled together had to go through?"_

Kimberly realized then what he was talking about. _"Jason, I know it's confusing. I know it feels like that's the only thing that matters, proving your better then Tommy, but look at what he's had to go through. You said it yourself, it's not the same team anymore. Which means it's not your place to be concerned about their going through Power changes unless it's in concern for your friends safety and adjustment."_

She felt a bit doubt toward his resolve as he digested her words. It was the opening the Liarians apparently needed because they sought that moment to try and release him from the Flame as they had her. She wasn't aware that was the mental fissure she felt until after Jason beat down the Piranhatron that was trying to take her down. They took a moment to banter before throwing themselves back into the fray.

Then all Hell broke loose as Maligore began his rise from his prison. Kimberly couldn't help but smirk from the sidelines as she heard Kat's disgusted remark toward Divatox's chosen other. She had tried to worn the pirate, not that it mattered in the end. The Rangers would defeat the monstrosity and all would be right with the world once again, but it would be hard. She knew the Flame, had felt it's power surging through her body. He was no run of the mill evil, that was for sure. It wasn't long before she and Jason were gathering up the aliens as the temple collapsed around them and the Rangers were calling their zords.

The five of them watched from the sidelines as the Rangers fought hard against the Maligore in the Megazord. Kim and Jason exchanged a look of worry as they watched the Rangers struggle. This was not looking good.

That is, until they called forth the great sword and shield that was affiliated with this set of powers. Once the battle began turning their way once more, she breathed a sigh of relief then grimaced as a thought came over her. She leaned into Jason and nudged him for his attention.

"We weren't this cheesy, were we?" He turned toward her and gave a look that made scoff in self disgust. "Great. The majority of my high school life was spent with me acting like an afternoon kid's show. Yuck!"

He raised his eyebrow at her and had a mischievous glint in his eye. "Afternoon kid's show? Right, you and Tommy an afternoon kid's show. That's funny."

A dark look entered her eyes and she shocked him with a humorless chuckle. "Right. If anything, our relationship was more kid friendly then anything else we've dealt with in our lives so far."

He gave a skeptical look. "What do you mean by that? You aren't saying that you two never did anything?"

"We never did squat besides a few pecks here and there. Not for lack of trying. I cornered him once at the Juice Bar on one of those days when it was just a few people because the bar itself was closed down and the equipment had been signed out to use. I was only in my gymnastics clothes and I was as hinting as I could be. So, after he dodged the subject for a while I straight up asked him if he was ever going to man and really kiss me. You know what he did?"

Jason's face was utterly confused as he tried deny in his mind what most likely what had happened. "He didn't."

"Well, I don't know what you're thinking, but if you're figuring that he had laughed and brushed off my agitation as nothing, then you're right. He laughed, kissed me on my forehead and told me to hurry up and get cleaned up so we could all meet up in Billy's garage. I was so crushed that I never tried to make a move on him again. He wanted nothing more then a sweet little high school puppy love, then so be it. I was so gone by that point all that mattered was that I was still his Beautiful, and I learned to live with the fact that the fire I felt, feel, whenever I'm around him wouldn't ever and will never be met with his own."

She sighed and looked up as the Megazord prepared for its final attack. "I never realized that was the major sign that he never really cared as much for me as I did him."

The Megazord sliced through Maligore for the last time and stood back to watch the monster burst forth into nothing but formless lava, fire and ash. Jason and Kimberly cheered and shared a look that said Jason intended them to have words later, she conceded. The Megazord began making its way over to their side of the island and they gathered up the Liarians and herded them to meet the Rangers halfway.

Kim couldn't help but laugh as she heard Divatox's shrieks of anger over all that she had lost. The poor vain pirate would never have peace if she intended to make the Rangers pay. She would push herself to an early grave.

After finding Bulk and Skull, they met the Rangers and entered the Megazord, leading the toward the infirmary and living quarters. She breathed a sigh of relief that the Megazords were generally the same with each different Power change.

Entering her own room after getting Liarians settled into the special room Alpha had set up for his old friends, she found the hidden compartment in the wall that held the generic sweats and tanks for quick changes like these. She then sat on her bunk and stared at the wall, feeling momentarily whole again at wearing something pink and Ranger related. That was replaced with the truth, these were just temporary and she didn't belong here. Never again would she belong here. That had her staring at a wall, face blank with no emotion, and Jason had to shake her to pull her out of her stupor.

"Hey, Kim." He sat down next to her and tucked her under his arm. "How you doin', Sis?"

"Fine." She turned and finally let the tears of the days stress fall. "I almost killed her, Jason. I was ready to break her neck. I've never felt anything like that before. It was all consuming."

He ran his fingers through his and held her close. His was easy to deal with. It was petty stuff. Not that Tommy hurting her was a minor thing, it was just that he knew the truth of the situation. Well, kind of. Her pain, though, stemmed from the fact that she wanted the blood of two people who had no clue what they were doing. That she blamed herself so entirely for what had happened. On both accounts. He couldn't imagine what it would feel like to have wanted the blood of the one person you would at any other time give your life to protect.

"Our starters were a little different, but the fire was somewhat the same. I know your confused. I can't hear your thoughts right now, which is a weird development, but I can feel your pain. I feel it engulfing you." He forced her head out of his chest and made her look at him. "You can't let it, Kim. You're hurt, and it called out to that pain. Not that that's any reason but look what I fell for. I fought against the voice saying you deserved vengeance but what broke me was the fact that all the evidence pointed to him letting the team break apart and be destroyed time and time again. That's what sold me above all the other crap going on in our lives."

Kim looked into his eyes and tried to convey the new ground they stood on. They had been evil incarnate together, as brother and sister, daughter and son of the Eternal Flame.

"We are so messed up." He gave a dark chuckle and nodded.

"Yeah, I suppose we are." She accepted that and decided that it would be something they would work through together. Later.

"So, you looked like you had something to say before the Megazord turned Maligore into lava residue and ashy monster bits." They had sat in silence for a while and the look he had on his face was starting to burn in her brain the wrong way.

He laughed in earnest then, a quiet laugh, but a laugh none the less. The look on his face was impish and made her worry.

"What?" His look went from impish to all satanic as he got up from the bed and went to door. He leaned out and appear to be surveying the hall before coming back into the room. He pressed the keypad and closed the door. Then began punching in a series of codes.

"Jason, seriously, what are you doing." She scooted back on her bunk and shrank into the corner from the side of Jason she only seen once or twice. He had been sitting on something big for a long time, and he was now going to let her know just exactly what was going on. With what, though, she had no idea.

"I'm locking and sound proofing the room. This is something no one can here or interrupt. Especially that pink clad she devil and her little minion." He came back over to the bed and climbed on as well.

"Are you talking about Kat and Tanya?" He adjusted himself to sit Indian style in front of her and nodded with another laugh. "Are you okay, Jason?"

"Never better, now shut up. You like fairy tails, so, now I'm going to tell the story of the Clueless Pink Princess and the Horny Knight and his Shining Zords." She watched his face light up with even more amusement as she felt her eyes go wide and her cheeks burn.

One thing she had forgotten about Jason. They were cut from the same clothe, but she had spent so long acting like the good little valley girl that she always blushed when he said things that were on the inappropriate side.

"Remember, no talking. Now, once in the small, yet not small city of Angel Grove, there lived a beautiful, blessedly busty young princess. Her name was Kimberly and she adored the colour pink. She was like no other girl the city had to offer. Flexible and gorgeous, there were few men that met her that did not want to her most intimately, but none of them ever got the chance. She had her sights set on a man like no other. He had recently moved to the area and had, like her, found what he wanted with in his first moments of being in town. He saw her and knew what true beauty and sex appeal was. Never a day came where he wasn't tortured by his desire to have her.

"His desire was so strong, he feared he would hurt her if ever he gave in, but the two drew close as time passed. Soon they were tied together in courtship and he was suffering the ever dreaded state we call Blue Balls. Having nothing else to do, masturbation was his only option, so the fantasy that plagued his dreams and sometimes left him in a curious state upon waking, were introduced into his daily life before school, after school and before bed."

He paused he watched her face. She felt it frozen somewhere between being shocked and pleased.

"Having no where else to go and praying to every god he knew to ever exist, which being somewhat, well, entirely forgetful were few and far between. It was in this state of mind that he went to his best friend for advice. The reason why he prayed that his life wouldn't end within the first few seconds of confiding with him was because we was the older brother to his personal hell and heaven in everyway other then blood. The friend listened quietly as the young Sir Tommy told his tale of longing, pain and momentary relief before the cycle would start again.

"He tried to counsel his friend, lead him on the path of getting laid and making both him and his sister the two happiest people on the planet. The boy would not listen though. He talked himself into continuing his pain and pretending to stay blind his beloved's hints for fear of his sexual desire. Which was once quoted as being so strong he nearly pounced on her every time she even twitched.

"The day came then that the fair, cock teasing Princess Kimberly was swept away to live in another land to fulfill her dream. He supported her as a good lover should and saw her off. He was able to save face and be strong for the rest of the week before he called his friend, who was in a distant country to learn of politics, foreign affairs, public relations and how to win over his own fair maiden's heart. The poor soul had not been able to stay strong for two seconds before he broke down into tears about missing his Hart. Both of them, and admitted to having hoarded her videos of her training secessions that she used to study. Not to mention other things.

"This torture continues to this day, well, about a month ago, anyway. He and I haven't had a chance to discuss these matters since then because of all the Ranger crap going on and the fact that the she devil sticks to him like glue."

Kim was silent for a moment as he let out a long breath of relief. She wasn't sure what to make of this, and hadn't even finished processing the information yet.

"I think all the fake innocence I had built up while away from you and Rocky just took a turn on Bourbon Street and decided to take up permanent residence." He laughed again and she joined him. "Wow, so that's where those tapes went? He stole them so he could jack off to them."

"Yup." He beamed with pride at her only minor blush at using the crude term. "Don't forget the tears. And the random rock hard boners in public. He is a tortured man."

She chuckled before a horrible thought swept through her. "Jason, you said the last time you discussed this was a month ago, right?"

He had the decency to look sheepish now, and she was more then concerned why. "Yeah, I, um, sent him fuel to feed his sick habit. I've been doing it since I moved in. He forced me. The little jerk knows how to blackmail."

Kimberly felt all the heat leave her body. "Jason, he's with Kat. How could you!?"

"Because you, her and Tanya are the only ones who think Tommy is no longer in love with you. Tommy will never admit to anyone but me, but even he knows it. If the rest of you weren't slow on the uptake we'd be in business."

She scoffed and they did nothing but glare at each other for a good ten minutes before everyone was called for a makeshift celebration dinner in the small kitchen and dinning area on the Megazord.

"At least I know why you don't like the two of them so much, but be nice, Jason. One of them has a closet pervert for a boyfriend who get's off on his ex's training tapes and the other his blind minion. I think they deserve a little break."

Jason thought about this for a moment before he conceded with a laugh and followed her to where they believe the dinning area to be.

They were almost there when Jason let loose a suggestion that rubbed Kim just the wrong way. She heard voices wondering where the sound of distress had come from and continued in the direction they had been heading.

Kimberly somehow managed to avoid acting like anything was wrong. Jason however spent part of the meal avoiding conversation for fear letting everyone know he was momentarily falsetto. He just felt he need to crack a comment about Tommy wanting her served up for dinner. After dinner ended and a minor introduction accompanied by some stories of the old team had been shared, everyone went their separate ways. With one exception.

She had felt him watching her throughout the meal. At the moment she chose to ignore him once more as she tended to the home sick aliens. They seemed to feel very comfortable with her. It was nice, she found that through the connection they had to make to free her from Maligore a bond had been forged. She could hear their thoughts when directed to her and vice versa. Other then that it was a comfortable peace as the creature conversed in their native tongue.

No longer being needed she went back to her room and had the door closed around five minutes before a soft but strong knock came from the other side. Sighing she opened the door to find Jason there, and not Tommy. Momentarily relieved and disappointed she gave him a friendly smile.

"Go to elevator and hit the button that says "Balcony." You'll be able to get some fresh air." She breathed a thank you and hugged him before she closed her door and made her way towards the lift. "Before you go, how are the Liarians doing? They aren't in to much pain from opening the gate are they?"

She smiled at his concern. "They're a little worn out, but no worse for wear. They do much better when their together. Their love for each other fuels them. It's inspiring."

With that she left him in the hallway and went to enjoy the ocean air.

"You know, I did the same thing on the way here." She stiffened as she heard Tommy approach. His presence was a force against her, drawing her in and pushing her away at the same time. "We were a ship, though, so it was kinda different. I was wondering when you would make your way out here."

"Well, here I am. Yahtzee for you." she tried really hard not to let a smile cross her face when he snorted at her bad joke.

"Sarcasm is a good look for you."

"Look for me? Tommy, your standing behind me, you can't even see me." Though she could feel him looking at her, trying to figure out what had happened in the cave. "I'm still me, Tommy. No nasty evil residue. Your safe, the Liarians are safe. You've had a long day, go back to bed. You have a tournament tomorrow and the continued life of the shelter depends on it, remember?"

"I know. It's just," He took a deep breath and came a few steps closer to her. "I just thought that maybe we could talk since we're alone right now?"

"Talk about what, Tommy? The Letter? It was a long time ago. We were kids and now we've been given a chance to grow. So, we're growing. You're growing, I'm growing. You're settled, I'm settled. Like I said earlier, yahtzee." With that she gave him a side ways glance and went back down below. She could feel him watching her as she left him there, and she forced herself to remain breathing calmly as he watched her from her door as she pretend to sleep before finally going to bed himself.

It wasn't until the door closed and she could no longer hear his foot falls that she let silent tears fall. For the moment that she saw his face up on the balcony, the brief moment she allowed herself to look at him before coming back down to bed, all she could see on his face was confused hurt. Those she could deal with, but what hurt the most, what cut her to the core, was the conformation that dulled his normally bright brown eyes.

They didn't talk when morning came. He didn't even look her way at all for the remainder of the trip, and once the Megazord was broken down and the zords back in their docks, he was with Kat having a private victory moment. Kim forced herself to keep the smile on her face as she was joined by Adam and Justin. Jason squeezed her shoulder when she cringed uncomfortably at their very open displays of affection.

"You get used to it." Adam patted her arm and gave her an easy smile. She smiled back and continued smiling even though what she really wanted to was scream and stomp her foot like a child who had had her most beloved Teddy Bear taken away.

To be honest it felt like that sometimes. She hasn't had a decent nights sleep since about a week before "her" letter reached him and her life was nearly destroyed.

The party dispersed and she was left alone with Justin and the last two people she wanted to be with in this world. Kat and Tanya looked on her with masked stoic faces as they sized her up. Jason handed her the keys to his truck. He wouldn't be needing it since he was going with the other guys to get in some quick practice after it was agreed that he would be the fill in for poor Rocky.

"Go see him. He was one that took it the hardest." With those words he slid into the passenger seat of Tommy's truck. A truck that she remembered well. Tommy was looking down at the keychain in his hand before he looked side ways at her. She met his gaze and nodded. He acknowledged and shoved his keys into the ignition.

Sighing, she looked down at Jason's keychain. A saber tooth tiger ornament hung from the ring and she smiled a sad smile at the tradition she had started. Closing her eyes she closed her fist and let out a soft chuckle. The man was so obvious.

"So, who's riding with me?" She turned to the remaining Rangers and smiled. The two girls balked while Justin returned her smile with his own.

"I will. Sounds like fun." He started towards her but stopped before reaching her side. "Unless your planning on listening to boy bands. I have to put up with enough when I get rides from these two."

Kim smiled in earnest when he pointed towards Tanya and Kat. "No, I haven't really been into boy bands at the moment. I was thinking some Alice in Chains, BÖC, Pearl Jam and maybe a little bit of Styx if we get the chance."

She noticed Kat's look of shock at her music choices, but Florida had opened her eyes. The girl obviously missed the choice of black sweats with pink undershirt. A year ago she would have chosen light grey or white. Times had changed.

Justin looked confused. "Are you sure you're the same Kim they told me about?"

She laughed, she couldn't help it. The kid was adorable. "No, I'm not. We all grow up sometime. I promise." She winked at him and led the way toward where Jason's truck had been left by Alpha. Fortunately he managed to get it transported to wear they could get to it and leave the Command Chamber.

"So, you really aren't the same Kim they told me about." Kim gave an airy chuckle as she turned down the radio. The newest addition to the Ranger vers wanted to talk, apparently.

"No, like I said earlier, we all grow up sometime." She sighed and looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Sometimes it's a little late but it happens."

He was quiet for a moment and she reached to turn the radio back up but his next sentence made her stop. "You didn't write Tommy that letter, did you?" She stayed silence for a moment before she pulled over to the side of the road.

"What are you talking about, Justin. What would make you think that?" She was very careful to keep her face light and a small smile on her face.

"There was something Zordon said to me before I left to join the rescue party. He said I could talk to you. You and Jason." He looked down at his hands.

"Of course you can, Justin. What about?" She lay her hand on his shoulder and shook it gently.

"I'm a nerd."

"That's good," She smiled at him. "You fit the job description of the Blue Ranger. What's so bad about that?"

"Well, there's kinda an additional reason as to why, other then the fact that I'm smart for my age." He looked up at her and pleaded with his eyes for her to understand. "I'm a reader. I see into the truth of things. I can _see _that you didn't write that letter."

"Justin, that's an amazing gift." She paused for a minute then looked at him very seriously. "Justin, I'm not trying to exploit your ability with this question, but I have to know. Since you can see that I didn't write the letter that Tommy received, can you see who did?"

He face was one of a lost child. "No. It hasn't developed that much. If I had been there when he got it, maybe, but right now no. I'm so sorry, Kim."

She smiled at him, again, though she couldn't keep all of the sadness from her face. "I know. Don't worry, Justin. There's a reason for everything. It's really for the best anyway."

"So, you believe in fate?"

She paused after she started the truck up again before answering him. "In a way, I guess. A more accurate way to put it would be that I believe in free will. I like to believe that nothing is really random or chance, but the choices we make send us down different possible paths at our different cross roads in life. That being said, I also think that even though we may choose many different paths, there are some out comes that can't be avoided."

"You file you and Tommy under the unavoidable slot, don't you?"

"Oddly enough, no." She turned onto the exit that led into Angel Grove. "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I will anyway. Tommy and I could've avoided a lot of hurt if we had just stuck to our guns and remained friends. That being said though, some pain is worth it. I wouldn't want to do anything different. I care for Tommy deeply and treasure every memory of him in my life from the first moment I saw him."

Justin was quiet for a moment before asked a question that made her out right laugh. "When did you have your first crush?"

After she sobered and had found a parking place at the karate center, she thought for a moment before answering. "Jason. We were 7 and he pulled my hair and destroyed my sand castle. I was a goner."

He laughed along with her then blushed.

"Why do you ask?" She got the hint when he simply looked away. Boys were so easy to read. "Who is she?"

"She's this girl who's always at the youth center with her older brother. He takes Tommy's martial arts class. She's younger then me but she's funny and smart. She wears pink and has blonde curly hair that's really long and these big eyes."

"She sounds familiar. What's her name?"

"Alyx. I would tell you her last name but I can never pronounce it. It's strange and Russian or something."

"It's German. Knowing that will get you miles with her, though, I wouldn't suggest it. She's good for a friend, but she's not one to cozy to close up to. I know her. She's a special case, been through a lot and all that jazz." She took in Justin's down trodden look and smiled. "Be her friend, Justin. It's what you both need, trust me. I played a doctor in a school play once."

Justin laughed and paused getting out of the car. "Why did Zordon say I could trust you and Jason with my secret?"

"Well, Jason I have no clue, but he probably told you could trust me cause I'm straight up crazy." She got out then and locked the car as her and Justin made their way into the arena.

"Kim!" She left Justin in the stands and met Jason as he leaned out of the ring. "I brought your bag with me when I stopped to get my stuff. Figured you'd want something other then sweats to wear."

She thanked him and left toward the locker room to change. She laughed and ignored the looks the men in the locker room were giving her as she changed in front of them. She just didn't feel like walking all the way to women's locker room to change when everything was right there.

"Kim, did you just change in the men's locker room?" She started at the sound of Rocky's voice and turned to see him leaning on crutches.

"What's your point?" He laughed and they shared an intimate greeting. "I've missed you, Kim."

"I've missed you, too, Rocko. I have to see you after you've healed, hugging you when you have a brace on and your dependent on crutches to be functional vertically is not fun." She pulled away and sent him a warning at the dark look that crossed his face. They talked for a moment before the five minute announcement came over the loud speaker and they went to support their friends.

They won, of course. Kimberly laughed as everyone celebrated, pointedly ignoring the way Tommy and Kat embraced and interacted. Was she to never have a break?

The rest of her and Jason's stay was spent trying to act like things were what everyone thought they were. Kim had written The Letter and she was now just looking for her old friends again, past wrongs aside. It was hard to act like the platonic and happy ex, but somehow she managed. She only breathed easy though when they were back on the plain heading for Miami.

"That was the hardest week of my life." She sighed and leaned her head against the seat back. Jason looked her way with a raised eyebrow.

"Really? Cause I would have thought not knowing he was still head over heals, butt crazy in love you with would make this harder?"

"Oh really, Alicia?" He glared at her doubled joke that he had walked himself into as she tried to imitate Jamie Kennedy from the original Scream.

"As I was saying, Nerd." She smiled sweetly at him before punching him in the chest. "Doesn't it feel good to know that he's making himself suffer for no reason at all. All you have to is bide your time before he comes crawling to your door. Well, our door, technically."

She thought about how to respond for a moment and then looked at him with a very serious, empty gaze. "Does knowing that Trini is in love with you but still is dating the college student from France make it easier for you?"

Jason stared for a moment, clearly thinking before he looked away pained. "No," he admitted as focused on the TV screen hanging from the ceiling a few rows up.

She took a moment to look as well and couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Skeet Ulrich climbing through Neve Campbell's window.

"You know," Jason said quietly, still looking at the screen. "Sydney always kinda reminded me of you. Just instead of fear of sex, you have a fear of being abandoned."

She thought about that for a moment and then conceded. The two of them were kinda similar. "You've jinxed me now. You and Tommy are going to turn serial killer and I'm gonna have to kill you both in self-defense. Way to go."

He gave me an un-amused look, clearly saying that he was trying very hard to be serious. "That's what makes me so mad at Tommy. Whether you had written that letter or not, he still should have been there for you. He handled everything very wrong. I had no clue that he hadn't questioned you about it, or even tried to you talk to you since he received it, until after my stint as the Gold Ranger was over. Had I known, Kim, I can guarantee he would not have survived that mistake."

"You know I would have killed you in return." She stopped the stewardess and requested two sets of headphones. "Besides, who cares really. I love him and I won't ever forget or regret everything we shared even if it was little and meant even less then that to him, but I'm not gonna sit there wringing my hands waiting for an evil plan to unfurl like a cartoon villain. I'm getting on with my life, Jason. If that includes Tommy in it later on, all the better, but I'm not counting on it being a more then friendly relationship. I told you before, that chapter of my life is done."

She then unraveled her head phones and placed them in the jack in her arm rest. He gave her a curious look before shaking his head at her outraged glare.

"Jason Lee Scott, my favorite movie is on. You are keeping me from watching it. This annoys me, so, I'm now ignoring you and am going to enjoy watching stupid teenagers die because they refuse to learn from horror films."

With that she put her head phones in place and focused on the screen. She noticed Jason chuckling from the corner of her eye, and she sent him a smile before truly devoting her attention to the film before her. She continued to smile though as she remembered his initial reaction to the discovery of her knew movie interest. She had previously dislike the genre in general, but now Scream was her new favorite movie and she was diving head first into this new area of filming that she hadn't before tasted.

He was shocked but pleased and enjoyed staying up late to watch the films with her.

Feeling comfortable for a moment she closed her eyes around during the final scene of the movie and fell asleep. The dream that she had, though, left her feeling even more exhausted then she was before passing out.

_A fire stronger then anything she ever felt ripped through as the wind off the ocean picked up. A single bird flew through sky as the sun finally began it's rise over the watery horizon._

_The falcon flew toward her and she surged with the Power as her Ninjetti powers took her over and she found herself repeating the familiar phrase._

Kimberly awoke with a start. She took in her surroundings and the taste of bile in the back of her throat. Groaning, Kim looked to see where she had let loose and noticed her door open. Looking over she saw the remains of the pasta Trini and her had shared while doing research.

"I'm really starting to hate this." Kim waited for her head to clear and then restarted her car. She would be ever grateful for the package she had received shortly after returning to Florida. It had contained her old morpher and she treasured it even more after finding out it was the last Zordon would ever be able to do for her.

* * *

Tommy awoke with a start and pushed the heal of his hand on the throbbing above his right eye. He was covered in sweat and shivering. The dream had been a mess of havoc and anger and pain and fear. His heart felt like it had been driven through with an ice pick.

"What the heck was that?" He could still hear the faint of the Falcon in his head. "What are you trying to tell me?"

Images flashed behind his eyelids. Possible residue from the dream?

He slowly lay back as the throbbing began to dull. He looked over at his night stand and touched the picture that was there. The Falcon gave a pain filled cry.

"What you do to me." He dropped his hand moved deep under the covers. The image he fall asleep to was one with bright brown eyes, chocolate hair and caramel skin with a bright, inviting smile.


	4. Chapter 4

"Alyx, you need to get home. You have a class tomorrow." She sighed to herself as she leaned against the brick wall of the club she was at.

It had gone on like this for two weeks. He had been here twice since the first time. So, she just kept coming back, hoping to see him. Just see him.

"I know. I'll be home, soon, I promise." She could see the older women trying to keep the scowl on her face. She would be losing the battle to the reminiscent smile that wanted to spread across her face.

"Just, don't do anything I wouldn't have at your age." Alyx laughed and said her good bye.

She looked down at the phone as she lingered in the alley way. "Worry wart."

A low hiss came from the shadows opposite the entrance and a heat spread from her chest through out her whole being.

"With good reason, child." A sludge and reptilian like creature emerged from the corner of the alley way, where light was most scarce. Her eyes narrowed as the liquid shadow turned hard and began take a human form.

"Leach-Vipers."

The name wasn't very creative but it did its job. These creatures were what their name said. They were Leaches, which were normally disguised as humans to gather energy. These weren't just any Leaches, though. These were the Viper class of the mutant race that had popped up about four months ago. They were the warriors. They got rid of obstacles, like the Power Rangers, and, by association, her.

"Very good, Keeper." The leader made his way over to her. Their forms were like other Leach breed's. They were essential shapeless, shadows would be accurate, and only took solid form to interact with the living. The more docile breed needed ample amount of human energy to continue with keeping solid, but these guys were far worse. They were sick. They needed energy in its purist and rawest form. They needed children to survive and who ever made them had set them loose on an unprepared and unsuspecting world.

"I'd be careful, Leach-man. I'm not just a Keeper." Alyx stiffened her body, getting ready to fight. Pressure began building behind her right eye. A fissure began building in the plain of time and space infront her. _Not now!_

"Yes, well. You may be many things, but a Ranger isn't one of them." The leader lurked toward her. He was solid as a rock. He had just fed. Crap. "So, why don't you be a good little feeding trough and come quietly."

That sure wasn't going to happen. She tightened her muscles to prepare for the beating she was about to take. There were five of them and she knew getting away wasn't going to be an option. Death was, though, and she was going to go down fighting, praying that either a miracle happened or she didn't survive it. The last thing she wanted was for whoever controlled these monsters to get his hands on her.

"Is there a problem here?"

Her battle ready calm went out the window when she heard his voice. What was he doing?

"Conner, not a good time." She kept her back to him but was sure to move into the center of the alley way entrance.

"Hmm. Conner McKnight. Ex-Power Ranger and former leader of the Dino Thunder team." Alyx cringed as she watched the leader's tongue slide out of mouth and sweep over his lips in a slow, savory manner. The universal sign for good eats.

"Conner, seriously, go. You're as useful as a brick right now. In fact, a brick would be more useful then you are in this situation." She heard him scoff and then felt him pulling her back.

"You are not facing this alone, Alyx." He was there, standing slightly in front of her as if to block the path of the Leach-Vipers.

She glared at the body in front of her, and pictured his head exploding. "Listen to the girl, boy. We only have orders for her. We can easily kill you without worry, and with the build up of Power you have…." The leader shuddered in apparent delight at the thought.

Alyx stiffened at hearing this information. Build up of Power can only mean one thing and this night was going from bad to worse very quickly.

The pressure in her head began build until there was a roaring in her ears. The fissure expanded. A distant voice murmured in her mind. "Malister. That's your name, right?" The leader's face froze and his eyes widened for a moment before he smirked behind the dark silky hair that was falling in front of his attractive face. "I really wish you hadn't told me that."

The pressure finally broke, the fissure ripped all the way open and the two plains joined before her eyes. With a gasp she released the Grid energy that had been building up. The Leach-Vipers made noises of distress and surprise as they were thrown back and lost their footing.

"What the heck?" Conner looked back to Alyx to see her crumpled into herself holding her head. "Alyx?"

She opened her eyes and looked up at Conner through her bangs. Looking past him to Malister and his group picking themselves up she realized she had to act fast.

Dodging Conner's grasp, she dived to her left where she had left her messenger bag. Quickly digging inside, she found what she had been looking for. It was then that Conner reached her and grabbed her arm. How convenient.

He became even more confused when he felt Alyx strapping something onto his wrist. "Alyx, what are you doing?"

She looked up at him and he could only stare at the glowing blue symbols on her face and the bright shine of her eyes that match the colour and hue of her markings. A pink energy pulsed around her. She reached her right hand up and touched his face with it. He felt the familiar flow of Power run through him, starting where her hand touched his face and traveling all through his body.

"I'm saving you, unfortunately." She then dropped her hand and reached into her bag again. Feeling the familiar shape and texture of the coin, she pulled it out and shoved it into the device on his arm and jumped back at the burst of green energy. "I am so sorry, Conner."

He could not believe this was happening. He wasn't Dr. O. He couldn't do this again, could he? Not that he had a chance to decide now.

"Now, Alyx Schreiber, you will pay. We know what you really are." He heard what was happening but was so caught up in the Morphing Grid energy running through him as he morphed that it was hard to focus.

"That's a statement you're going to want retract along with your hand." Alyx watched in relief as the gloved hand tore the under Leach off of her and easily kicked it away into the far back wall.

Malister's face contorted in rage. "She's released him, we need to leave. There is nothing we can do now with the Guardian is awake."

Alyx filed that name away for further research. She'd found some documents with that title involved but it seemed insignificant then. Now, though?

The creatures lost their solid human forms and quickly turned into their natural misty forms. There was one last sinister warning to be on the watch before all evidence of them was gone and they were the only two in the alleyway.

She lifted her arm and activated the com feature on her otherwise useless morpher. She gave a report and informed Bear of her location. All the while she watched Conner from the corner of her eye as he tested out the suit in a very slow manner.

She watched him for a moment as she listened to Bear inform her of Leach attacks all over the city and that they would be there as soon as possible before she heard him be attacked. What was going on tonight?

"Connor?" He seemed to not hear her as he continued to move around in the suit. "Connor, I need you to hear me."

He stopped then and demorphed, looking at her over his shoulder. The look on his face was blank as he observed her. "You need me to hear you? Really?" His voice started out hallow before growing louder in anger. "Well, why don't you hear me first. What the hell is going on here? Why the hell did you do this? What the hell is this?"

She looked at him stoically as he pointed frantically at the morpher on his wrist. When he did, the coin slipped out onto the ground at his and she watched him pick it up. "A Power Coin? Why do you have this?"

He just wanted answers and for her not to look at him like a chore. It was killing him. He didn't want to be looked at like he was just something she had to deal with. Not by her.

"Connor, I need you to understand that the last thing I wanted was this. I'm sorry, but it had to be done. That Power Coin is yours and it marks you as the Green Falcon, the Guardian." She wanted so hard to just say she was sorry over and over until he understand just how sorry she was, but there was no time.

"The Guardian? What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure. I'm gonna find out, but tonight is the first time I had heard about this Ranger Coin being associated with that title. The Falcon is easy. It's on the coin. Personally, I never saw this coming. Not for you. A cheetah, maybe, but the falcon has me total thrown for a loop."

He fought down the smirk as he watched look to her left with a scrunched up look on her face. It was adorable when she went on these tangents. No matter what the topic, whether it was a random thought or an important subject she could always find a way to lighten up the mood by just going with the random train of thought that entered her head. One word and she would be gone.

"I mean, I can understand Tommy being a falcon. Makes total sense, but he was the White Falcon, not green. The color doesn't make sense. Green is ground, not sky. Which fits with you because you play soccer on a soccer field which is generally on ground."

"Alyx." She stopped and swiveled her head around to look at him with a questioning expression. "You were telling me why I'm a Ranger, again."

She made an "o" shape with her mouth and looked around her. "Um, can we not do it here. Help me up."

He smiled softly and offered her his hand. Once on her feet she wiped off her hands and grabbed her bag before motioning him to fallow her as she left the alley way.

"Where are we going?"

She stopped in front of a black jeep with pink detailing. "A place where I can breathe and think. Get in." He fallowed her orders and they road in silence until they got to the beach. It was the first time he'd ever been in the car for any length of time and she didn't at least have the radio going and the drive to the beach was an hour long.

"Why are we here." He got out the of the car and jogged after as she hurried toward the shore, getting rid of her shoes and socks as she went.

He had only seen her do this once and it was a very rough time for her. She never let anything get to her. It made him feel a little less angry at her. It showed that no matter how deep she was hiding her feeling for him, she still had them.

She sighed and tried to rap her head around the situation to explain to him exactly what was going on. "I really wish this hadn't have happened, Connor. I mean that. I may have wished hell fire on you several times in the years that we've known each other, but never did I wish to be the one to call you back for another tour of duty as a Ranger."

"I know. I just want to know what exactly is going on. What have I been called back for exactly?"

So she told him. She told him about the Leach's and their Viper class brethren. She told him about the mysterious Sunshine Self-help Medical and their brain child Sunshine Medical. How the drug the minor company produced had swept through the market and how they knew that there was a connection but it hadn't been found yet.

"I just wish we knew so the Rangers could take them out. It's bugging me. It seems like it's obvious and I'm gonna be really red faced that I couldn't catch it sooner when it all comes together."

Connor stuffed his hands in pockets as he processed this information. "Any major monster attacks yet?"

"No. Just Viper attacks and Leach dusting. Major lackey leg work but no big player so far. It's been going on for about five months and the team is really getting anxious." She bit her lip and looked down at the water lapping over her feet. "But that's neither here nor there right now. You need to get reacquainted with your Ranger status and learn how to deal with this new brand of Power."

Connor raised one eyebrow and fallowed her as she went back to her jeep. She tossed her shoes in the back seat and pulled a small card out of the glove compartment.

"Come to this address tomorrow at six." He tried not to laugh as she pulled his wallet from his back pocket, shoved the card in and put it back. "I'll see you then. I have to go. My guardian Nazi is going to flip as it is, so I don't have time to get back to that side of town. As to how your getting back to car? Well, this is generally only supposed to be used for emergencies, but since I don't want to get into too much trouble, we'll make an exception."

She grabbed the morpher on his wrist and put her fore finger and thumb on the buttons on opposite each other on the sides of the watch face. "Now, these do work to dial the watch and it's functions, but if you don't pull then out they have another function. Think of where you desire to go and push. If you don't have a place in mind it'll take you directly to our base of operations. Don't do that unless we call you to. I'll tell you directions to base tomorrow so you can drive there."

She cradled his wrist in her hands for a moment before dropping it and stepping away. "I'll see you tomorrow, Connor. Oh, and do not tell Tommy about any of this. Not a word."

With that she got in her jeep and drove away, Eddie Money blaring as she went. He smiled as the song brought back a decent memory of last year.

After a few moments of watching her tail lights disappear he fallowed her direction and found himself back in the alley way. He looked around for a moment thinking about how the night had progressed.

He had only started coming to club to get glimpses of her, before he realized he was about a foot's shuffle away from full on stalking. It had hit him the night he had waited in his car until he saw her leaving and only when she pulled out did he start to leave. He had fallowed her two blocks before he realized how ridiculous he was being. It was then he decided it was time to put this crazy hobby to rest and had only showen up tonight to have a private farewell.

That had obviously turned out to be a bust. When he saw her in her torn white wash jeans and pink loose tank he had to talk to her at least one more time. That's what had led him out to the alley way. It wasn't his intended destination but when he heard her voice he deterred from the direction to his car and went to her aid. A pretty face would always be his down fall apparently.

Sighing he turned up the radio and thought of the relationship they had had over the years. It was always heading in only one direction and neither had known it until it was too late.

Tommy Oliver sighed as he looked over the loft room that had finally been completely finished. It looked like her, or he thought it did from his memory of her.

"You do good work, Rock-o." He clapped his friend on the back and led the way down the outside stairway and back into the kitchen from the back to door. "I'm just glad it took so short of time."

"Meh, it wasn't a major contracting gig so I didn't use too many guys. I gathered up these friends I had in high school and they were all mostly amateurs. To be honest it took longer than if I was actually getting paid." Tommy hit him on the shoulder and pulled two beers out the fridge.

"Yeah, whatever man. Who wouldn't want to see my bright face every morning for three months?" He popped the tops off the longnecks on the edge of the counter and handed Rocky his as the man scoffed.

"Tommy, your face is never bright at six A.M. Sorry, to tell you this, bro, but you are not a morning person. I'm not surprised you aren't in a serious relationship, let alone married. You must be awful to wake up to." Tommy laughed at him mockingly then took a swig of his beer, eyes cast down. He supposed now was as good of time as any.

"You know when I told you about three weeks ago that Kat and I were seeing each other, again?" Rocky remembered all to well. He also remembered the harsh laughter that exploded from Kimberly at the weekly Ranger dinner the Scott's held. "Well, we're talking about moving in together."

Rocky choked on his beer and it nearly went spewing all over Tommy's kitchen. "You're kidding."

The look Tommy gave him told him otherwise. "Dude, get over that train wreck. It ain't goin' no where other than a dead end." Tommy gave him another look. It was an old argument. "Look, I love Kat. She's one of my good friends and a former teammate but you two don't mesh. Not to mention you're gonna totally kill your chances with reaching Alyx if you have the Blonde Wonder here when she is. You know those two _definitely _do not mesh. At all."

Tommy scowled as he considered this and conceded. "Yeah. Besides it's only been around a month. I shouldn't have taken to the suggestion so quickly. I guess I'm just grabbing at reason to forget Kim more than ever lately. Kim and Alyx are so a like."

He watched as Rocky closed his eyes and looked as if he was trying to hold something in. After a moment he coughed out a chuckle.

"You okay there, Rock?"

"Dude, you have no idea. Sometimes, I have to take a step and wonder who's crazier, Kim or Al. They should be certifiable, you know." Rocky took another swig of beer then leaned in toward Tommy with a bright smile on his face. "There was one time when she somehow managed to get past a bouncer and into this bar we were at one time when Kim was visiting. The bouncer eventually dragged her off and she just waved, holding a glass of Diet Coke in her hand as she went. Kim was the only one unfazed. We saw Alyx the next day at the Youth Center and she acted as if the whole incident hadn't happened."

Rocky paused for a moment and scratched the back of his head. "I think she has the cup from the bar in her room with her trophies, though. Everything has kind of been hectic getting her all packed. She's a mountain to move when she's unhappy, man."

Tommy furrowed his brow as he regarded his friend and tried to process his words. "I thought her mother and her talked about this. She agreed it was for the best."

"Just because she agrees with it doesn't mean she's happy about it. She stills refers to you as the Swiss Cheese Self Tormenting Boy Wonder With No Sense of Self Happiness or Emotional Preservation."

"You would have thought she had come up with a shorter nickname. It's hardly even insulting with how ridiculously annoying and hard to decipher it is."

Rocky chuckled and regarded him with a teasing smirk. "She has a Facebook page devoted to it. It's one of the funniest things ever. You should see the picture of you she edited and put up as the main profile photo. You look like even more of dweeb then you normally did back then."

"Hey, man, all I have to say to that is that that look got me more numbers than all of you. I may have looked like a dweeb to all of you guys, but to the women of the world, I was hot shit."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, man."

"I sleep fine." He paused and took the last swig of his beer. "When I'm able to get around to it." The look he flashed Rocky said more then the words.

"You're a dick." Rocky lunged at him. The couch was knocked over as the two men commenced with a very childish wrestling match.

It was that scene that Alyx and Hailey happened to walk in on. Alyx scoffed and removed her large, hot pink rimmed sunglasses.

"And in the grand tradition of Red Rangers, we have two gay men "wrestling for dominance." I always knew he was dating our dear Kat for reasons other than she was available."

Hailey coughed to cover up her laugh. "That's not appropriate."

Alyx raised her eyebrows and nodded her head in the men's direction. "And that is?"

Hailey opened her mouth to respond but finally made a noise of agreement and led the way passed the blushing men and into the kitchen. Alyx smiled at the boys in a very suggestive and creepy way, kicking Rocky on her way passed them and into the kitchen as well.

"I just submitted myself to hellfire on Facebook, didn't I?"

"She's probably texting everyone she can think of who's ever heard of you, even in passing."

Tommy paused for a minute, before finally falling back onto his living room floor in defeat. "Fuck my life." He paused for another moment. "She said Kat looks like a man, didn't she?"

"In the nicest way she could manage, I assure you." Rocky looked at his friend as Tommy put the couch back and he himself took his seat the recliner, again. "Look, Kat's a beautiful girl. Blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and legs for days but you signed yourself up for insults. She's got a man's figure. Which is common in dancers, from the ones I've seen, but it doesn't help that she's your height."

He paused for a minute considering saying what he was thinking but Alyx beat him to it as she passed to both of them heading to the front door. "Not to mention you two had to be the worst tribute to Danny Zuko and Sandra D the world has ever seen."

Hailey followed her out muttering about her being unnecessarily blunt.

"What did she mean by that?"

"Well, you were kind of going for the bad boy group leader thing and she was the sweet innocent Australian girl who came to the States. Let's not forget that she dances like a beast and you were doing your whole racing shtick. Plus, She pulled you out of your funk and gave a reason to better yourself, to live, kind of."

Tommy could see that, but then something confused him. "What do you mean, "kind of"?"

Rocky scratched the back of his neck. "Look, man, I was there when you got the letter. I was just as mad as you were at Kim. Well, I guess your weren't so much mad as you were hurt and confused. The group was confused and mad and hurt as well. She had simultaneously destroyed everything you two had built and cut herself off from us. It was rough.

"But, these last few months. Well, to be honest, since I got a call from her a little while after The Letter, I've been thinking how unlike Kim that whole train wreck was."

"What phone call?" Rocky paused, he had forgotten that he hadn't told Tommy about that particular incident.

"She called me a while after her birthday had passed. She was so relieved to get a hold of someone, she sounded like a someone breaking the surface after drowning. I had rushed the conversation, trying to sound like she was wasting my time. She sounded so genuinely confused at my harshness, but I just wrote it off as not knowing I had been there when It had arrived.

"But, what really knocked me on my ass was the way she reacted when I told her you were on a date with Kat and that you two had gotten serious. It was like I had just ripped out everything in her and left nothing but a shell. If I didn't know better, I would have thought I was literally talking to a corpse. To be honest, for a minute there, I did."

Tommy stared at his old friend for a moment before responding in a voice that reminded Rocky of what Kim's had been on the phone that day.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying there is something funky about this whole thing and I think you need to seriously talk to Kim. No accusations and no hurt. Just talk to her about it. She refuses to tell us anything but give these vague responses that could go either way."

Tommy smirked and looked at his folded hands. "She always did that. Especially if you got her mad. She'd do the cutest thing: She'd scowl and pout at the same time then try and hide it with this big smile while she glared at you. Then when you tried to get her involved in the conversation or get her opinion she'd give those vague answers or the sharp questions that made you feel stupid for not knowing the answer. The question could be completely ridiculous!

Tommy paused as he remembered a time when he had really ticked her off. He had tried to make peace by taking her to the fair in Stone Canyon that she had been begging him to take her to.

They got there and everything seemed to be going well until he asked if she wanted him to win her a stuffed animal. The _look_ made it's way onto her beautiful face. She squared her shoulders and asked the strangest question: Are you in the _mood_ for that? I had no clue what she was talking about.

Being his old naïve self, he asked if _she_ was. She just chuckled and fired back with: Do you even have ask? When he didn't answer she had scoffed, rolled her eyes then won herself a giant stuffed dog and walked away muttering. It took him a moment and he had still been trying to process the whole event when she yelled at him to follow her. He did.

The whole thing was rather confusing and kind of hurtful. There was this huge tiger there that he was going to win for her and she completely ignored it when picking out her prize.

He gave Rocky a brief summary when he noticed his inquiring look and realized he'd been quiet for a while.

"You really couldn't figure out the situation? Come on. How often did she have to throw herself at you before you got the hint?" Rocky was stopped mid sentence by a magazine flying into his face from it's former place on the coffee table. Rocky laughed as Tommy's hand then made contact with his arm.

"Dude, I get it now okay? Jase spelled it out for me a long time ago. I just didn't know how to handle it. We were both new at that whole thing. You know?" He caught a look from Rocky and stopped short. "What?"

"You weren't Kim's first rodeo."

Tommy tightened his hands as the memories of all the encounters with Kim's ex's ran through his mind. "Yeah, but I was talking about the serious aspect of our relationship. Not the other stuff."

"Which, according to her, was never really a part of your relationship." Tommy just stared at the sly look that had crossed his friends face. "How much does that hurt?"

"You're sadistic."

Rocky merely shrugged as he got up from his place in the recliner. "A little. By the way, there's going to be a dinner at Jason and Trini's on Friday. You're gonna be there."

With that he walked out the front door and Tommy was left once again thinking about Kimberly. In keeping with tradition, she was all he could think about as he walked into his kitchen. A resounding crash filled the lower level of the house and slipped out the front door to Rocky's ears as he got into his car.

"I always knew it was Kim who made him such an odd ball."

As Rocky pulled away from the house chuckling, Tommy sat in his kitchen wonder how on earth he could have missed the table and chairs right in the middle of the kitchen.


	5. Chapter 5

Alyx laughed as she watched Kimberly rush about the house. It was amusing and encouraging at the same time.

"You are certain he's going to be there?" Kimberly fixed Alyx with a harsh look as she checked her appearance in the mirror before her once again. "'Cause if I find out I was panicking over nothing, your hide is what I'll take all this wasted stress and time out of."

Alyx rolled her eyes and went back to the comic layout before her. "Yes, Tommy is going to be at dinner tonight. You look killer by the way."

Kimberly beamed only for a moment before she sent a smirk of her own toward the other girl in pink. "Conner's coming, again, I take it."

Alyx blushed at the statement and sent a side look toward her friend and mentor. "I didn't really do a good job at trying to look casual, did I?"

Kimberly's gaze slide over the girl's body. She took in the worn, flat brown suede boots, hard, tanned legs left to flow uninterrupted until they were covered by equally worn cutoffs. The most obvious piece by far had to be the loose fitting pink and black striped tank that would have left her almost bare to world if not for a black camisole that was pretty dang close to shear its self underneath.

Kim chuckled at the girls shy smile. "No, you did a fabulous job, but I fear this poor boy is going to think you're interested in him." She fixed her young companion with a knowing look. "How's that going to sit with you?"

"I don't want to like him. I really don't, but after everything that happened between us we still never really found closure. Well, I didn't at least." Alyx pulled her self up into a ball on the kitchen chair she occupied. Her knees, now pulled up to her chest, acted as a way for her to hide her now sad eyes. "He has a girlfriend now. They've been together for over a year, I think. She's a pretty girl. She's a decent height and has a nice _vegan_ body."

Kimberly laughed at the way the girl spit out the word. "Well, just remember how much she's missing out every time you bit into a burger."

Alyx smiled at her and nodded in agreement. "Oh, I do."

Kimberly laughed again and bid her farewell as she left the small house she owned and knew very well. Like this town it was her place. She had grown up in it and had claimed it from the moment of birth as her chosen residence.

She was always thankful the couple who had been living in it when she came home from her bout with the Olympics had been falling on hard times with their relationship and needed something different. She needed the familiarity of her childhood home and the house that held the memories of when her life had made sense even though it had always been in chaos.

She had to lock away the one she had been focused on as she pulled up to the familiar pale yellow house. Rocky was outside drinking a beer and watching Trini and Jason's son play with their black lab. Zack was retreating back into the house when she cut her engine and got out, squealing as Rocky scooped her fit body into a tight hug.

Rocky laughed as he looked her over after setting her down. "You were tipped off, weren't you?"

Kimberly plastered an innocent look to her face as she looked down at herself. A pink v-neck sleeveless t-shirt with a black opened vest. The shirt clung to her and road up from being hugged to show her crane tattooed hip bone and the waist of classic denim blue skinny jeans. She curled her toes in her worn biker boots that hugged her calves.

She opened her mouth to deny it, but laughed when Rocky gave her one of his _looks_.

"Well, a little birdie might have mentioned something about one of my ex's being here. Maybe I'm hoping to make him squirm a bit." She bit her lip and batted her eyes at Rocky. "And as you know: It's all about the fantasy. Looks are only ten percent of the final product."

"Good girl." With that he placed his arm around her shoulders and escorted her towards the house. They had almost made it to the front door when Alan grasped onto Kim's leg and laughed as she feigned loosing her balance. As she was righting herself, she pulled the squealing boy into her arms and lavished him with attention as Rocky continued to guide her toward the house.

"I found the most adorable boy in the front yard. Can I keep him?" Alan squealed about Aunt Kim and sleepover fun as the two Rangers made their way into the dining room where most everyone was already gathered.

"Aunt Kim is a name I haven't heard for you before." Tommy leaned against the entrance into the dinning room that joined it with the kitchen. The look he sent towards Kim was clearly one of forced kindness.

"Huh, well. If you stick around you may just hear a few more." She wasn't completely sure, but thought she heard him mumble something about "cruel irony."

They stared at each other for a moment but the opening of the front door interrupted everyone. In sauntered a tall boy with deep brown hair that was styled into a faux hawk. He smiled as he neared Kim.

"Ms. Hart. How's it going?" Kimberly smiled and gave the young man a side hug, her other arm still holding Alan. "Hey, Alan!"

Alan proceeded to squeal and squirm until Kimberly surrendered him over. "Quentin!"

Quen laughed and had a mini rude face competition with the tiny, slightly more Asian, version of Jason in his arms. Alan quickly surrendered in a fit of giggles and buried his head into his caretakers shirt.

Jason came out and shook hands with "Quentin" before interring into a conversation about football plays with him.

"So, who's that?" Kim had been moving toward the kitchen to get a drink when Tommy knocked her arm with the neck of his beer bottle.

She took note on how he folded into himself against the frame of the doorway after getting her attention. Nothing had changed.

"That is the offensive starting quarter back on Angel Groves Varsity football team. His name is Quentin Bennigen." She took her eyes off of the man to her left and looked into the dining room, again. "He was on his way to a lot of trouble. I think he had even stated that he was beginning to use drugs when Bear recommended he get in contact with Jason."

Tommy furrowed his brow and then looked at Kim with disbelief written all over his face. "Bear?"

Kim sighed and rolled her eyes back to her ex. "Yes, Bear. He's a good friend of both Alyx and Luna."

Tommy thought for a minute before taking a swig of beer. "Luna is Alyx's best friend, right?"

Kim gave an exaggerated intake of breath and clapped her hand on Tommy's back. "I'm _so proud _of you! Yes, Luna is her best friend. Alyx and her four friends take care of Alan when we have these dinners. We tried letting him stay at first but it got to awkward."

Tommy grumbled and rolled the muscles in his back trying to working the stinging away that had been left in the wake of Kim's overly enthusiastic blow.

She sent a cruel smirk his way and looked him over. "With as hard as you try to avoid everything, you're pretty well informed."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He took another swig.

Kim regarded him with disbelief before scoffing and leaving him in the door while she went to get the sweet tea Trini had promised would be there. She was quick to add a good dose Jack to the drink before taking a healthy gulp.

She was in the middle of her second glass when she noticed both Aisha and Trini looking at her with smirks plastered on their faces. She simply glared, finishing her cup.

"I have nothing to say to either of you other than this: If his face wasn't so cute, it'd have been on the bottom of my boot a _long time ago._"

They both looked at each other before Trini spoke up. "Would you believe we find your drink concoction to be strange?" Kim left the Jack where it was and drank the tea as it was meant to be consumed.

With a toss of hair over her shoulder and a shaky breath to prepare herself, she left the room. Her intentions were to be civil and ignore him. In the back of her mind she was cackling at the chance to run him over with her car.

But that would ruin her tires, shocks and fender.

The figures were clearly too pre-occupied to tell something was wrong. To be fair, they probably thought they could handle anything that came their way. Neither of them were much for giving up when it came down to it. Though they would soon find out that confidence could only get you so far.

It was the girl who noticed something off first. It could have been the sudden drop in the temperature of the old building that surrounded them. It wasn't. It could have been the very noticeable growl that came from almost directly behind them. It wasn't. It could have been the sudden cut of the main power or the following hum of the generators. It wasn't.

It was the fissure of anger and malevolence that ripped through the air when the creature physically manifested itself into their plain of being the made her realize something may have been off in the spooky old theatre.

"No. I'm telling you, that whole fiasco was the original work of one Kimberly Ann Hart." Jason didn't try to miss the roll that collided with his cheek. "She's the one who takes credit for that whole thing."

"I do not, Jason Lee Scott. There's no way I could have done that one by myself. I had an accomplice and his hands are as red as his shirt."

The whole table of adults had been reduced to children when old stories were brought into play.

"Look. I just asked a simple question. I didn't mean to start a war." The person at fault ducked his head and was only shown mercy by his old friend.

Rocky had made the mistake of asking if anyone remembered the prank Kim and Jason had pulled on him when he had graduated from AGU. He honestly had not meant to rehash this blame war. It just always seemed to happen.

"That is not the point. The point is that I get blamed for these things when I merely help." Jason pointed an accusing finger at the female in question. "You're the one who came up with at least a third of those deviant schemes." Jason paused and screwed his mouth up in thought. "In fact, I'm almost curtain you came up with most of them but somehow Jedi-mind-tricked me into thinking they were of my own creation."

Kim scoffed and put down the roll she had considered eating. "How do you figure that "Almighty Red"?"

"Easy. I'm not that twisted." Kim's face went dark as she considered her old friend.

"Brother dearest, who was the first person to show me porn?"

The table fell silent and Tommy stopped breathing as he looked between his old teammates.

"Okay. You're going to bring perversion into play? I'm glad we handed off my son to your minions for the night." Jason paused and regarded his wife. "Trini, break out the Zombie fighting kit. I believe an apocalypse is upon us."

Another roll connected with his face.

"Wait, wait, wait."

"Yes, oh Fearless Leader?"

Tommy looked over at Kim with dark eyes. "Jason showed you porn?" Kim nodded with a chuckle. "When?"

"We were sixteen when we found your brothers stash, weren't we?" Jason confirmed and everyone turned to regard Tommy. "Why do you ask?"

"I just need a moment to process this." Tommy paused and then laughed. "Though, now that I think about, I'm not surprised. You two were weird. Screw that, you still are."

Jason laughed as well and then looked to Kim, again. "I believe that was a real turning point for us. Wasn't it, Kim."

Kim nodded remembering how awkward it had been to watch it with Jason at the time. "Yeah. Especially when Trini called. You almost embarrassed yourself.-"

A subtle rumbling sound filled the air, and it could have been passed off as a cell phone had it not been for the faint six tone tune that played with it. It had everyone at the table alert and reaching for their wrist watches. Only one of them actually had someone on the other end.

"Speak."

"Yo, Ms. Hart. I hate to interrupt your family fun time, but we have a bit of a situation."

Tommy's eyes burnt into her as she quickly rose from the table and made her way to the Scott's basement. The small base there wasn't anything like the one she had at home but it would do.

"How big of a situation?" She turned on the computer system and put in the proper programming codes.

"We have a monster attack in the abandoned theatre on Yellow Brook Avenue." She put in the address and the computer began scanning for energy signatures. What came up made her blood run cold.

"That area is showing up as an energy dead zone. It's like nothing is there. At all, ever. No residue or anything." Kim had the computer run another energy scan and the same result came up.

"Ms. Hart, you better run that check again. Cause I know for a fact it should show energy signatures in there. Civilian."

Kim paused and stared at her watch. "How?"

"Alyx is trapped in there with Justin."

"Justin? But she's supposed to be at my place with you guys, and Conner, watching Alan." She paused for moment then asked, "Where's Alan?"

"Are you kidding me? She left before we got there. She's the one who called us here. Alan's with Adam and Tanya." He paused and when he spoke again his voice was coloured with embarrassment. "I'm watching Alyx and the brain kid try and figure out the strange energy barrier that's all over this place."

"What energy barrier? And why aren't you busy fighting if you're there?"

"Well, see, Ms. H. When I said we have a situation, I meant we're pretty much screwed here. When the monster appeared she called us right away. We got here but when we tried to morph, nothing. We can't even connect with the morphing grid to defend ourselves with our minor abilities."

Trini made her way over to another station and began running data. "None of this is making any sense. A monster should not have that ability at this point. They shouldn't be this prepared."

Alyx's voice called to her over her communicator. "It's the Leaches they've been fighting. The barrier has the energy signatures of all of them, including Conner's. That's why they've been doing nothing but sending out their minor forces. They've been gathering signatures."

Kim paused for a moment before asking her next question. "If what we're thinking is correct as far as the main power behind these guys goes, are there any Ninjetti signatures?"

Everyone was silent and Trini stopped and watched her old friend.

"Only two. Your's and Tommy's."

Silence filled the room as this information was processed.

"Would it keep me from being able to help?"

"You? No. The signature is so faint from the passage of time and warped from being passed on by an illegitimate source that it can't do much. The changes your Power has gone through should be enough to successfully cancel out the old source anyway."

The air around Kim settled and she prepared to leave and help. "What about everyone else. Can the old Rangers help?"

A grunt came over the com before Alyx answered. "Yes. Except Tommy. His is fresh and will stop him from even going Ninjetti."

Kim slid her glance to him and bit her lip, weighing her options. Bear made her decision easy.

"Kim, _you need to get here_. Alyx is holding a barrier but I'm not sure how long she can keep it up. Her Grid link and Energy signature are growing faint and her coin is doing that weird spinning thing again. You know. That one thing that happens when ever she's going to pass out and we don't have any clue what will happen when she does."

She gave a confirming answer and nodded to her companions. "We're going to need to transport in morphed. I suggest you do it now."

Tommy watched as everyone around changed into their respective Ranger selves. He was soon surrounded by three Morphing Rangers and three Ninjetti Rangers.

"Since you have a former student there, Tommy, you're coming with." He had no time to respond as Kimberly grabbed his wrist and he was reacquainted with the old feeling of weightlessness.

The image he encountered when they landed shook him.

There, just beyond a faint, swirling blue haze, was an armored dragon. A black misty haze flowed from his open mouth, climbing over the barrier, lashing in areas as it tested it out searching for weak spots. The beast face turned more sinister and the black haze turned into sludge as it tried to damage the weakening barrier.

He then looked to the petite form at the head of the group of teenagers in front of him.

Purple, pink and blue hair seemed to be weightless as it was blown slightly by the energy being thrown back at the girl holding the barrier intact. A faint pink glow surrounded the figure and her hands were bleeding from taking the blows being landed.

He continued to stare until Kim blocked his view. It was then he noticed the change in her uniform. The white was now gone. Her skirt was split on both sides and the only other colour on her was black. It flowed over her skirt and front in artistic swirls and lines, and her gloves and boots were accented by the colour. Her helmet was the same with the exception of the white being replaced with black.

Tommy took in everyone else's appearance as Kim took in the situation.

Rocky and Aisha's uniforms were the same with the exception being the white diamonds that had been there when they were kids. They had been replace with the same adjustments as Kim's only the black was white. Jason, Trini and Zack's uniforms were blessedly still the same.

"Civilian's to the back except for Alyx. I need you to stay there a moment longer." Tommy turned back towards the girl who's knee's were now shaking as she grunted in understanding. "Ninjetti Rangers, power down to your first stage. This guy wasn't meant to face us. Morphing stay as you are and form a defensive line in the back, guarding the kids and Tommy."

Tommy was thrown for a loop again as Aisha and Rocky moved forward, powering down into what he could only guess was their Ninjetti warrior gear.

Aisha had her head wrapped still, but her stomach was bare. Her skirt was the same, as were her boots, but her pants were gone. Her top was her head wrap continuing down and wrapping around her torso and shoulders. She still had her wrists covered but they were now covered by wrapping fabric as well.

Rocky's uniform was basically the same only tighter in the torso and wrapped as well. His arms were bare and his fore arms and hands were covered by wraps as well. His lower half remained the same.

The sight to behold, though, was Kim. Her Ninjetti warrior gear was much like Dulcea's had been, but what it must have looked like before centuries of battling had torn it and worn it down. The pink chain overlay hung from a black belt to cover her black shorts and her boots where much the same but what had been green for Dulcea was now pink covered in black vine like wrapping. Her top was same as Dulcea's had been but with the same fabric and vine as her boots. On her head was a band like the one they had worn with the original uniforms but again the white had been replaced by black. On her belt was the enlarged version of her coin. The coin had staid as a plate on the chest's of Aisha and Rocky.

"What the heck." Kim shot him a glance as she swung her arm over head and brought a bow before her. He looked her over again and noticed this time the quiver that rested on her back.

He looked to his other friends and noticed the sword sheath that now lay uninhabited against Rocky's back and the dagger holsters that were attached to Aisha's thighs and hidden in the side of her boots. She maneuvered a set in her hand as she and Rocky became reacquainted with their weapons.

"Alyx, I'm gonna give you the signal in a minute. Get out of there as soon as I tell you to drop the barrier, understand?" Kim kept her eyes on Tommy as she pulled an arrow that seemed glow, along with her iris's and the vine that covered her body. The energy pulsed before his eyes.

"Now."

After that things moved fast. Kim and Aisha sent their attacks, the barrier evaporated, Alyx dropped and the monster paused. It was to late at that point. The two Ninjetti moved forward and released smoke screens before retreat and doubling back to their original positions, preparing for another long range attack as they went. The Rocky that had been standing and hold his blade in the defense proved to be a decoy as the real thing emerged from the smoke screen to give a head on attack.

Aisha and Kimberly both released their attacks. Aisha offered up two daggers; Kimberly two arrows. Their long range hit the same time Rocky's sword made contact with the beast's still opened mouth. The follow through cut its way through the beast until Rocky's feet touched ground and he maneuvered away.

There was a pause until the remains began quiver and expand. Finally the thing exploded in on itself and released the energy it had stolen from the building those who inhabited it.

"Decent." Kimberly rolled her eyes at Bear's comment and searched through the smoke for Alyx. With any luck, she'd be resting but still conscious.

"Dudes, I think we have another situation." Kimberly and Tommy snapped their heads in Conner's direction and ordered him to elaborate. "Well, I don't know about you, but a girl floating in a swirling blue cocoon seems like a situation. To me at least."

The smoke finally cleared and they were met with the sight of Conner kneeling over Alyx's suspended form.

Her eyes were open but showed nothing but glowing blue and the energy in her markings seemed to be flowing like water. The coin around her neck floated slightly above her and was spinning very fast now emitting a pink glow. The energy around her was what could only be described as a cocoon.

"Conner, I'm gonna have to agree with you on this one. This is, most definitely, a situation." Everyone looked to Kim with the exception of Conner. He was, like her, looking at the lifeless girl floating before him.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: As you guys obviously know, I own nothing. Saban does, and once again all is right with the world, sort of.

By the way, sorry for confusion. The A/N is the same other than this litte added detail. This one is actually chapter 6. Promise! Thank you, gardien1204 and Ghostwriter. I'm seriously red faced!

I just wanted to thank those of you who read this story. It means a lot to me. It's the first story I've really stuck with and I'm glad you are, too. It makes me feel so good when I see someone has read it, or reviewed it, or added it to their watch list. Seriously, thanks guys. With college and everything else that having a life, or at least attempting at having one, entails, it's hard to keep a consistant writing schedule. You readers keep me going. I'm in major sappy mode right now, so sorry if no one really wants to hear me ramble and just wants me to get on with the writing.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Maybe we could poke it with a safety pin." Everyone had previously been murmuring to each other, trying to make sense of the scrambled data that they had been collecting from the energy readings surrounding the fallen girl. Now, though, they were observing the only blonde girl in the room with a curious gaze. "What? It could work. Like a balloon."

Again, she was met with blank stares. The only thing that kept them from laughing was the girl in the swirling blue cocoon hovering above Kim's kitchen table and the shear panic that lighting up Luna's entire being. She huffed and whined and moved to where her friend's head was floating, trying to touch the barrier around her only to be pushed back by a defensive energy outburst.

Tommy watched everything from the wall. He was seriously considering calling Hailey, but he wasn't sure the lecture he'd receive later was worth it. A battle waged in his mind as he heard clamoring coming from the door across the kitchen.

"So," Kimberly came up from the basement with what looked to be a gutted and reformed laptop in her hands. Trini was following her holding a modified version of one of the first attempts at a personal video camera with a digital screen. "What you're telling us, Billy, is that you're not going to tell us anything."

Everyone looked at her with questioning stares as she regarded the camera in Trini's hands with nothing short of out right anger.

"Kim, what I am telling you is this: You wouldn't believe me if I told you. I barely believe it. I can't bring myself to until I am able to get there and run the tests myself."

That did little to calm Kimberly down. "Billy, I can't talk to you right now. I have a floating girl on my kitchen table and, apparently, data to go over without your help. If you're saying you're coming back to Earth, then come. End transmission."

Trini was startled when Kimberly took the device from her hands and dropped it on the counter. She then went to the girl on her table and looked at her with sad eyes.

She didn't talk to anyone as she began typing on the laptop being balanced on her arm. She picked up the device from the counter and placed the laptop where the camcorder had been. She walked around the table, taking some sort of reading. When she was apparently finished, she put the camcorder on top of the computer and picked it up awkwardly trying to keep the one thing on top of the other as she moved.

"I'll be in the basement. If there is any change with her, come get me." With that she left the room and returned to the basement.

Trini finally felt it was safe to move and went to seek comfort in her husband's arms. There was silence in the room before both Aisha and Rocky came upstairs in a poorly hidden haste.

"Okay, what's going on down there?" Bear looked to his mentors as they vexed and shot worried looks to the basement door.

"Kimberly and Justin are hard at work." Rocky said and made a face that clearly said that that statement was only covering a little bit of what was going on.

Aisha laughed, harsh and with no humor. "They're releasing a storm of rage and research down there." Muffled voices were heard from down stairs. "She's still trying to figure out why they were in the theatre in the first place."

Tommy sat in silence for a moment but couldn't hold in his questions when both Kimberly and Jason finally made their way back into the kitchen.

"I want to know what's going on, and I want to know now." Everyone turned to him. He had been quiet most of the evening after the initial call for help had been made to Kim.

Everyone turned to Kimberly and she took a steadying breath before she occupied the chair next to Conner in front of the table.

"What would you like to know, Tommy?"

"What's going on?" He waved his arms around wildly then returned to stare at her with wide eyes. "What are you doing as a Ranger, again? What is Conner doing as a Ranger, again? What happened to your guys' uniforms?"

He paused for a moment and Kimberly didn't say anything for a moment. Finally she squared her shoulders and asked simply, "anything else?"

"What is a Leach? What was that thing we faced? What are you up against?" He looked from her to Alyx. "What's going on with Alyx?"

Kimberly let him take a few calming breaths before she began.

"What we faced tonight is the first monster to be released on us by the current baddy. It seemed to be a Knight class Dragon Hoarder. It gathers energy and continues to gather until it eventually returns to its master, and not of its own free will. It's the second level of fighter class monsters we've faced. The first isn't really classified a monster since they can be sent out like putties. Their called Leach Vipers. They feed off the innocent and unbridled energy of infants, preferably newborns.

"The standard lackey that we deal with mostly are the simple low level class Leach. They gather the energy necessary for their existence and go toward the manufacturing of other monsters. The Leach bread, warrior and otherwise, have been gathering energy sources during fights. That's how they were able to create the barrier that blocked off my Rangers ability to connect with the morphing grid.

"As for your other questions, those are both easier and harder to explain at the same time. Conner is a Ranger, again, because he's been called back for a second tour of duty. We don't know why it was him, the Grid just picked him. I'm a Ranger for those reasons and that I'm the leader of this team. Rocky, Aisha and I were minding our own business one day when all the sudden we're given our morphers, power coins and then off to Phaedos we went. We trained with Dulcea and earned our Master Warrior titles."

Tommy leaned against the wall listening in silence. It made since. They couldn't control what the Grid would ask of them. He knew that better than anyone.

"What about Alyx?"

Kimberly looked at the girl in front of her. "Alyx is a very special girl. She was born with the biggest burden the Grid could bestow on one person." She looked up at Tommy and locked eyes with him. "She's a Keeper. She holds the key to all the sleeping Power with in a Ranger. She had to track every single person on this team down and release the Power with in them. With that, she comes with the protection of the Grid but it can only do as much as her human body will allow. Basically, she has a minor link to the Grid that she can access to protect herself like she did with the barrier today."

"That's a power coin, though. Is she a Ranger?"

Kimberly and Trini exchanged looks. Kimberly prepared to respond but was cut off. "No, though some people refuse to except that Alyx's place is set and she offers nothing else to the cause."

"Excuse me if I refuse to let her suffer the same fate I did. I know she is supposed to be the Terror Ranger. I can feel it. I won't let you just write her off and start screening candidates for her to hand over her coin to."

"She's not you, Kim, and it's not the Crane and Kat. It's a power coin that has no owner and, when we find her, Alyx will give over the coin without question or hesitation."

"The Terror Wolf is her spirit animal and I refuse to make her part with it. I know she's not me and I'm not going to let her have the chance to go down that road. She's a Ranger, we just need to figure out her trigger."

Tommy's brow rose in shock as he watched the two girl's fighting. No one else seemed surprised at the out burst, which had him even more off guard. Apparently, this happened enough that everyone else could about their business without giving it any thought.

"The point is, Tommy." Kim was sure to stress that sentence, affectively cutting Trini off and making sure she knew the conversation they'd been having was over. "We have five Rangers, three Ninjetti Rangers and three Mighty Morphin Rangers."

Tommy nodded but then another thought entered his head. "How long has she known about our identity as Rangers?"

Kimberly rubbed her face and mumbled her answer.

"I couldn't understand you. How long?"

"Since the moment she moved here." Kimberly yawned, stared into space for a moment then blinked hard a couple times before jumping at seeing the girl in front of her and taking in her surroundings with a gasp. "Oh, my God. People, I'm sure I love most of you, or at least some of you, but get the hell out of my house. Teleport, drive or walk. I don't care how you do but get gone. I'm tired and need sleep. Be here in the morning, or call to get an update, but you sure can't stay here."

Trini chuckled as she helped her friend to her room. "Kimberly it's past one the morning."

Kim scoffed from the stares. "Fine. Whenever one is that isn't in the morning. I don't care. I just want the people out!" She was whining now and most of the people in the lower level of the house were chuckling.

Tommy rubbed his eyes when he and the Scott's finally made it back to their house. He couldn't even fathom making the hour and half drive back to his home in Reefside. He groaned as he tried to wake himself up for the feat.

"Tommy, man, we have an extra room. Just stay here." Jason had been trying to convince him since they had left Kim's house to go and pick up their son from Adam and Tanya's place. "You seriously cannot drive with how tired you are. Accept or I will spar with you in the front yard and leave you where you pass out."

Tommy stretched and looked at things with these options to consider. "Fine, I'll take the bed instead of your front yard any day. You have a big ass dog and the last thing I want to do is wake up with pee or crap on me."

Jason shared a look with Trini as he removed Alan from his car seat. She nodded and led the way into the house. Tommy watched from his spot by the car for a moment before he finally made himself move.

"God, my head hurts." Tommy rubbed his eyes and then fell exhausted onto the couch in the living room where he wandered. It took him a moment to register that Trini was standing over him with a glass of water and pills. "Whazzat?"

"It's pain killer. Something Billy cooked up in his lab on Aquitar." She chuckled at Tommy's skeptical look. "Trust me. It works great."

One final stare down with her out stretched hand and he grabbed the pills from her open palm. The water felt good going down his throat. He closed his eyes again and was surprised at the tingling feeling that coursed through his veins and numbed out his mind.

"Wow, it really does work." He sighed then a question popped into his suddenly fogged brain. "Why do I feel high, though?"

Trini put the glass down on the table and lowered herself onto her haunches so she could see him eye to eye. "Well, see, as great as those wonderful pills you took are, there are a couple of side affects."

Tommy couldn't help but laugh. "Side affects? Aren't there always?" Trini screwed up her face in the most hilarious way before nodding in agreement. "Well, what are they?"

She started ticking off on her fingers and Tommy widened his eyes to show he was paying very close attention.

"One: It makes you high, as you have found out. Two: It makes you tired. That'll come soon. Three: When you wake up in tomorrow morning you'll feel like you're recovering from a hang over." Tommy laughed again and covered his mouth. "Five: You won't even remember this conversation tomorrow, let alone what happened tonight."

He gasped and covered his mouth, again. "Why?"

Trini rolled her eyes to the ceiling, scrunching her face up again in fake thought. "Well, because what I gave you wasn't really pain killer."

"No! Seriously? What was it?"

"What I gave you was actually a drug that will, in fact, allow me to make you think whatever I want you to think. It suppresses what I tell you to forget and replaces it with the memory I give you. The best part: I don't have to tell you all the details. Your imagination and subconscious come up with everything. I just have to put the idea into your head." She lightly tapped his nose as she did with her son when she was playing with him.

"Can you make me forget The Letter?"

Trini blinked and sat back at that question. She sure as hell wasn't expecting that. "Why?"

Tommy looked into her eyes and kind of curled into himself. "Because, my life sucks. Ever since The Letter I've been trying to make it work with a girl I just really can't stand sometimes. Ever since that day I've been lost and broken and thinking of her. I want her, Trini. I want her so much it hurts all the time. I want to hold her in my arms. I want to hear her say my name like she used to. I want to kiss her. I want to wake up beside her in the mornings. I want everything that comes with being your best friend and love for the rest of your life."

His voice got small and his eyes watered up a bit. "I want my Beautiful back, Tri."

She leaned forward and rubbed his arm lightly. "I'm sorry, Tom. That memory is too old. But, since you won't remember any of this, I'm going to tell you a secret. Kimberly didn't write you that letter."

His voice was still small. "Then, who did?"

"You know who. Who benefited most by you being broken and needing saving from the girl who emotionally killed you?"

Tommy thought hard for a moment then stared dazed for a moment. "Rita!" Tommy looked pleased with himself until he finally grasped that Trini was not nodding her head along with him.

"Think a little more blonde and a little closer to home. It might also help to think of someone who's still around and hadn't gotten kicked off the moon by the Machine Empire."

"Kat?" Tommy watched Trini's mouth twitch slightly in the corners. "Why would Kat do something like that, though?"

"That's something you'll have to ask her, but not anytime soon, probably. It's time I tell you what exactly you'll remember tonight, huh?"

"Can I remember that Kim didn't break my heart?"

Trini smiled and rubbed his arm, again. "No, but I will put the thought into your head to really think good and hard about the whole thing. How does that sound?"

Tommy huffed and rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"Good boy." Trini then proceeded to tell him about the evening he would remember having. After that she helped him to the guest room and out of his shoes, pants and button up shirt. "Sleep good, Tommy."

He mumbled something she couldn't quite understand and was then breathing even.

Trini sighed and leaned against the closed door to the guest room for a moment before a shadow loomed over her. "He was completely oblivious to the fact that he's been sleeping with his worst enemy. You should have seen his face when I told him that Kimberly hadn't written that letter. It was like everything made since even with his mind clouded by the Pill."

Jason hugged her as she sniffled a little. "It's a bad situation, Tri. You should have been there for the face to face encounter. You thought it was bad on the phone, but, Baby, both of them were shells. At least Kim has known for years that it wasn't her fault. Tommy will never have that opportunity."

Trini shook a little in his arms and when she spoke again he wasn't shocked at the anger in her voice. "Why couldn't I just let him remember that I told him the truth. They were kids then. Heck, Tommy might not even want to get back with Kim once he's gotten his closure. It may be the only thing keeping him from moving on."

Jason laughed a little and rubbed his wife's back. "Don't you worry about a thing, Babe. The thought is in his head and he's gonna start noticing the obscurities in that stupid piece of paper."

Trini sighed and nodded, feeling the weight of the day finally falling upon her. "Jase, I'm sleepy. Carry me."

He did.

Tommy woke with one of the worst headaches of his life. The small amount of light that was being filtered into the room from God knows where made his eyes feel like they were boiling out of his sockets.

A string of profanities flew from his mouth when he realized a bathroom was needed. His stomach lurched against his abdomen and he threw himself into the bathroom conveniently placed within the confines of the room.

"Tommy, man, you okay?" Jason's voice roared into Tommy's mind and made his eye cross at the pain. "Dude, you don't looks so great."

Tommy wretched again before groaning. "No shit, Sherlock."

"Looks like we won't have to dig to far to find some, Watson." Jason hissed in empathy as Tommy continued to empty his guts out into the guest bathroom. "Man, I told you not drink so much. Your should have seen yourself. It was kinda funny, but mostly just sad."

Tommy paused and looked to Jason with a pain filled expression. "What do you mean?"

"Well man, I'm not going to lie. It was pretty bad." Jason helped him to the sink. "You were following Kim around like a lost puppy, but every time you would talk to each other, all that you would do was insult her. You called her a coward, chicken shit and all other manner of stupidity. Not to mention the none stop questioning about the Letter."

Tommy groaned. "Man! I think I know why, too." Tommy opened the medicine cabinet and applied toothpaste to his pointer finger. Then proceeded to vigorously shove it over his teeth in effort to clean his teeth. "It's all Rocky's fault!" He removed the finger from his mouth and shook it very vigorously at the former leader. "All you Reds are the same. You're all annoying, thinking you know what's best. Never settling unless you've meddled in everyone's lives."

Jason tried not to laugh as he shoved Tommy's hand back toward his own face. "Tommy, news flash: You were a Red."

Tommy scoffed and spit the toothpaste from his mouth. "I know, that's how I know." Jason bit down on his knuckles to keep from laughing hysterically. As it was he just sounded kind of like he was gagging. "He had to go and bring the old thought to the forefront of my mind."

Jason calmed himself down enough to clear his throat and choke out, "What thought?" Then he was back to biting his knuckles.

"That old thought. You know!" Tommy swish mouth wash around before continue his thoughts. "You know. The one where I think Kimberly didn't write the Letter."

Jason stopped snickering and looked at Tommy with a concerned gaze. "I thought this would have been a new thought."

"No. It was a random pipe dream I've had since a little while after I got that stupid letter. And you wanna know the sucky part? Ever since Rocky finished the run through of the loft and brought it up, I've been thinking how it couldn't have possibly been her. It messes with my mind, you know. I've been so used to writing off that fantasy as simply that, that now that I'm finding all these things that would disprove it as fantasy and in fact, well, make it fact, it sucks. It _really_ sucks" Tommy sagged.

"Why do you think it's a pipe dream?"

"Because it wasn't my idea to begin with. Had it been mine, my Oliver Guilt Complex would have written off write away. No, it was actually Kat's. After the Letter arrived and I finally resurfaced into the world of the living, she suggested that it could have been some evil plot by some cosmic force yet to show its self that had set forth to do me in before they even get to the Moon to throw the Machine Empire off of it as irony."

Jason opened his mouth to respond, but closed it, having no real response for that.

"I know right. Total Pink logic." Tommy smirked a little then his face dropped again. "But, ever since she mentioned it, it's always been a hovering thought in my head. "Maybe it was an evil force and not really my Beautiful and she's just waiting for me to suck up my pride and sweep her off her feet then commence in having my wicked way with her." God, I wish I could have my _wicked way _with her." Tommy kind of shuddered, which initiated Jason's gag reflex, before getting back to his real world platonic companion. "I miss her, Jase, and these stupid thoughts aren't helping with the coping."

Jason shot him a concerned look before leaving him there with a pat on the shoulder and the traditional "Sorry, bro." He quickly went to the kitchen where Trini was stationed with their son. She smiled at as he entered before it slid from her face at the sight of his confused face.

"We have a problem."

"What is it, Jase?" Trini shifted Alan in her arms and went over to Jason to comfort him. "Come on. Do I need to get the Zombie survival kit?"

Jason gave her a weak smile before sighing and taking a seat at the island bar. "Turns out, Tommy has been thinking that maybe Kim hadn't written the Letter. But, hee's been writing it off as a delusion created by his own mind."

"But the Oliver Guilt Complex shouldn't, wouldn't allow that." She caught her son's hand before it could reach one of the chopsticks in her hair. "Wouldn't it?"

"Yes, generally it would." Jason took Alan from Trini's arms and got up from the stool he had been perched on. "But Kat putting the idea into his head could, apparently, override it."

Trini gasped in realization before her eyes widened and she let out a shrieking, "WHAT!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Billy arrived the next afternoon. Kimberly and the others waited patiently as he ran numerous tests. They kept to themselves that he was repeating all the ones they had.**

**Finally something seemed to snap with in the past and present Pink Ranger.**

"**I hate waiting." Kim reached for her keys. "Trini, call me when he's done. No one goes over the results until then." She pointed to the dining room and glared. "Not even him." She sent one more glare her way. "Especially not you."**

**With that she left, the door banging with her exit. Everyone was silent and Billy poked his head into the living room. "May I inquire as to why Kimberly is so against both you and I seeing the results sans her presence?"**

**Trini sighed and rubbed her face. "She thinks I'm going to smudge over them so I can further argue that Alyx isn't supposed to be a Ranger."**

**Billy looked at her for a moment. "Why would you say that. You know as well as I that there is no proof that she's not. I do acknowledge that there also no proof that she is. I'm simply stating that you are in no position to be pushing your ideas to the point of Kim being angry at you." He moved to head back until something else came to him. "It also gives you no right to use me or my findings to back up your argument."**

**Trini stayed silent from her place by her husband. Justin fidgeted and Aisha and Rocky continued staring into the dinning room.**

"**I may have messed things a bit."**

**Justin barked a laughed and leveled her with a look. "You think."**

**Conner stood up from his place in front of the door as Kim's convertible pulled up. "I don't mean to make it look like I was waiting, but the truth of it is, I was."**

**Kimberly stopped for a moment before continuing to unlock the gym and signaled him to follow her. "I'm gonna go change. I hope you're comfortable in those clothes. We're sparing."**

**Conner really wasn't all that comfortable with sparing in his jeans, but he'd done it before. "This place is nice." Kimberly paused on her way up to her office. "I mean that."**

"**I know. It's just odd having you in here with out the other kids." She entered her office with a smirk and didn't return for a good while. Music started a moment before her door slammed and he turned to see her moving down the stairs. "I don't normally ask kids to spare with me, but I need to let off some steam."**

**He chuckled and regarded her with a curious glance. "AC/DC?"**

**Kim looked at him as she stretched and signaled him to follow her lead. "Yeah. Why are you so surprised?"**

**He shrugged as he complied with her suggestion. "The Kimberly Tommy talks about always listened to new music made from the latest pop group. Just kind of a shock to find you actually have good taste."**

"**Says the boy who listens to Kylee Styles." Conner blushed for a minute before chuckling with her. "But, yeah. The Kim he knew probably would never admit that she listens to anything but that, if she did at all. I honestly have a hard time remembering some stuff that made her who she was. Things happen and you lose parts of yourself. Sometimes you find them and put all the pieces back together with Elmer's Glue and sometimes… Well, sometimes that just doesn't happen."**

**Conner took a defensive position as she launched her minor attack. "You mean the break-up?"**

**Her second attack was a lot more forceful than she had intended and Conner was knocked back. "Sorry. Um, I guess you could call it that. There was a major misunderstanding, but who am I to say. I'm just the dumb valley girl with daddy's credit car and options."**

**Conner hit the mat and Kim's chest heaved for a moment.**

"**Again, sorry." Kim moved away from him and turned her back as she breathed deep for a moment. "I don't know what Tommy told you, but we aren't good. We will never be good, again. Most likely."**

**Conner got up and rubbed his abused abdomen. "I'm your punching bag, man."**

**She looked at him with a hard brow as his self disparaging tone caught her attention. "That's good. Guess I need to beat some questions out of you."**

"**Huh?" He didn't see her strike, but he sure felt it.**

"**What really happened between you and Alyx. And none of this "we wanted different things" bullshit she keeps giving me. Cause it's obvious you wanted her."**

**Conner took beatings for sometime before he finally noticed the pattern was that it got worse when he didn't say anything. "She ended it. I was being a moron. I wanted her to be something she wasn't, thought she wanted to be something she wasn't."**

**They took a pause for a moment as she looked at him from under her sweaty brow. "We weren't really together. And the moving from what ever we were into actual relationship zone wasn't what drove her away. What made her say enough was what I expect would come after that transition.**

"**I expect normal hair. I expected someone who would dote on me and sing my praises twenty-four seven. I expected what I have now with Krista. It started out with her being real, and a little like Alyx yet not enough to appear to be a replacement, but it has warped into some farce of a happy existence."**

**They gave a few attempts at sparring and Kim looked on him a considering glance. "You're moving in together, aren't you?"**

"**Yeah."**

"**Suck." He couldn't help but laugh at the throaty way she said the word and how long she drew it out.**

"**Answer me this," Conner took an offensive stance for the first time during their encounter. "Does she still say 'cherry'?"**

**Kim laughed as well and they continued sparring until the familiar six tone alert. That was more than enough cold water to ruin the mood.**

"**Show me." Billy moved away from the monitors and allowed Kimberly to view them. "So, it's a cocoon of Grid Energy, like I said originally. And… it's deteriorating? I don't understand. Where did this Energy spike come from?"**

**Billy rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Within her. It's like the Energy is her and not at the same time. They exist together as one but also as separate entities." He pointed to a side monitor. "From what these readings are telling me her subconscious called on the Grid when she passed out and it began fixing her Energy levels. Levels that were mostly likely thrown off due to her sustaining such a large Energy based shield for so long.**

"**All of this leads to a very odd conclusion. She's is the Grid, in a way. Well, more rather, of the Grid. It's all very strange."**

**Kimberly went through his findings. "And the coin?"**

"**Kind of like a lightning rod. Since she is unconscious and can not bring the Energy from the Grid in to our plain of existence, the coin, being of the Grid as she is, does it for her. The faster it spins the stronger the connection and the more damage to be fix.**

"**The cocoon is dissipating now, and this is the only reason I can think, because her levels have reached their proper places. Whatever that is, I can't tell you. She should be conscious in the neighborhood of two to five hours."**

"**So, it's a waiting game." Billy nodded and watcher her lean against the console. "How will her memory be affected? Before, when the coin would spin slowly, she was near passing out and would sometimes black out."**

**Billy thought for a moment and finally conceded. "It would stand to reason that she would have amnesia of the events leading up to her passing out. You wish to keep her in the dark about this, don't you."**

**Kim nodded with a low, stiff brow. "Right now, she need not know how strongly she is tied to the Grid and probably the whole teams continued tour of duty. We'll keep doing tests and going over results. Hopefully we'll be sure enough to inform her before she finds out on her own. And hopefully neither time will be too late."**

**Billy looked at his friend. She wasn't the Kim he had grown up with. There were bits and pieces there, but mostly she was a foreign creature to him. "I hope to know you, again, as well as I did seemingly yesterday."**

**She looked at him and nodded before leaving him alone in her basement. "I truly hope to."**

**If she heard him, she made no move to regard his statement. He stayed where he was, slumped in the desk chair he had occupied for the last hour. She was briefing everyone on the plan. He couldn't recall at what time the younger group had arrived but they were arguing now.**

**Eventually things quieted down and Billy was still in the basement. Another hour passed before he finally came up with the soul purpose of taking his leave.**

**Tommy looked into his coffee for a good while before his eyes slid longing to the liquor cabinet where he heard the wonderful sound of Tequila calling his name. Funning how much he longed for summer to over. It was a first for him. Summers used to be fun and most recently relaxing.**

**He sighed and sipped his coffee a glare coming over his face as he heard soft footsteps pad into the kitchen.**

**It shouldn't have been her there. He knew that. He knew that it shouldn't be her in his button down shirt and so familiar with the kitchen that she could get aggravated at it's lack of nutritional value.**

'**Funny,' he felt a cold tingle run down his spine as he forced a humorless chuckled back down his throat. 'I used to think that was cute.'**

**Kat removed her head from his cereal cupboard and looked at him with one finally waxed eyebrow raised in concern. "You okay, Love? Sounds like your having trouble downing that sewage this morning."**

**Tommy shook his head and mumbled that he was fine. He looked past her and out the kitchen window. Truth was, he was far from fine.**

**He'd been uneasy since his apparent drunken debacle involving Kim during the Morphin' Family dinner at Jason and Trini's place. Since yesterday, when he left their house, he couldn't get The Letter out of his head. And having Kat in his house in the intimate way Kimberly should be wasn't helping the unease.**

**He swirled his nearly black coffee around for a minute trying to figure out how to word his next statement. "Hey, Kat, do you remember that idea you gave me a few years back? The one involving The Letter?"**

**Kat scowled and lowered the water bottle she'd been drinking out of. "Yes."**

"**I've been thinking about it a lot since yesterday-"**

**He stopped when he noticed her clenched jaw and stiff shoulders. She wasn't looking at him, though. She was looking at the fridge and the pictures that covered it.**

**He couldn't really figure out was going on until she suddenly, and violently, removed one from the fridge and rushed toward him. "This is why you won't let me move in. This is why we aren't married, yet, like we should be. This is why you're asking about something I said to merely make you feel better." She moved the picture away from him and gripped it with both hands. Her knuckles were white.**

"**Her ghost. I've had you longer, Tommy. I know the man you are. I pulled you out of childhood and brought you into that manhood. Physically, emotionally and mentally." She stared at him for a time then looked at the picture, again. "You know, I haven't done this since I was under Rita's spell."**

**Tommy was about to ask what but she gave him an answer could before he form the words. With out lifting her gaze, she tore the picture once, then twice and several more times in quick succession.**

**The kitchen was silent and remained that way as she left the room and began banging around. She had mistakenly taken Tommy's stunned silence as a good sign. It wasn't until the sounds of tearing photographs reached his ears did he finally let the shock fade to panic and finally anger boiled up.**

**With a calm he didn't feel, he followed the sounds of her child like behavior to his room. There she was, not simply removing photos but breaking the frames in her frenzy to destroy the evidence of something he cherished most. The memories and proof that she had been there. That she had existed in his life at some point and loved him in it.**

"**You need to stop now."**

**She sent a calm gaze his way but did not stop her movements. She grabbed another frame and while looking directly at him, smashed the glass on his bed post. "No." Removing the picture she quickly began destroying it. "This is good for you, Tommy. Remove her. She never loved you. Not like I do."**

**She went for another frame but his hand grabbed her wrist in a firm grip. She could feel that he wasn't far from causing her pain. It was then she realized he wouldn't care. He could see it in her eyes.**

"**We weren't done talking. I believe you had just finished telling me that you had merely suggested that Kim might not have written The Letter because you knew it was what I wanted to hear before you went on your misguided mission. Why?"**

**Kat tore her wrist from his grasped and rubbed it as something to fill the time as she thought, instead of from actual pain. Even when he was pissed, Tommy was nothing if not a gentleman.**

"**Because, I wanted you. I always did, Tom. I knew, even after the spell was broken, that I was meant to be with you. Not her. But how was I to make my move when she was around, even if it was only in your every waking thought.**

"**So, when she removed herself from the equation, I bided my time. I played the good friend and did what I should. Suggesting that it was a mistake, setting you up with girls. Lucky for me the Tommy Oliver Guilt complex worked to my advantage. You felt you had done something wrong, been inadequate somehow. This also worked toward you turning away from girls like her.**

"**Admit it, you only turned them away because you wouldn't have been able to care about them like you had her. And that was because they weren't enough like her to be her, but were enough to remind you of how you failed. They would be replacements and poor and painful ones at that."**

**They were quiet for a moment as Tommy processed this. Finally he bent down to pick up a discarded picture where his face and hers had stayed in tact. His lips weren't really under his control but he couldn't really say the words that were coming from them weren't true.**

"**You're a replacement."**

**Kat scoffed and began to protest but he talked over her.**

"**Rebounds aren't really supposed to last, Kat."**

**He went around the room and piled some garments on the foot of his bed. He then approached her and unbuttoned the few she had done and let his shirt fall from her body. He wanted to laugh as her eyes darkened while he looked at her.**

"**Good thing I'm a not a rebound girl."**

**He wasn't sure how, but Tommy still kept his chuckle in. "But there's the problem, Kat. This has gone on so long that we've moved into a delusional relationship where we forgot what's really going on." He picked up the bundle of clothes on his bed and pushed them toward her. "You are the rebound girl. Now get dressed and get out of my house so I can clean up your mess."**

**Kat stood there in shock as he left the room to give her privacy.**

**He set to work cleaning up the broken frames, glass and torn pictures. A lot of them had been gifts and would to hard explain when he asked for replacements. The very important ones had fortunately been missed. They were all gifts and they were all from one person. Those were kept in the guest bedroom. A lot of his stuff from his younger days were kept in there. His days with her.**

"**You know, I think I'm even happier, now, that Alyx is coming to stay here."**

**Kat paused as she reached the door. "Why? So you can hurt yourself some more? That's what she does, you know. She only hurts the things she touches, especially you."**

**He chuckled and kept his eyes on his work. "Even if that's true, it can't be worse than the drug I'm on now. It's called denial and you supply the key ingredient. With Alyx here, I'll have enough distractions around, I may just be able to quit, finally."**

**Kat let out an aggravated and uncharacteristic screech of anger. "You will regret this, Tommy. Call when you're off your high horse. Just know I won't take you back until the brat is out of here. The both of them."**

**Tommy looked at her then. "I don't know what happened to the girl I cared so much for in high school, but your not her. I hope you find her someday so I can have my friend back. I miss her."**

**With one final glare, the blonde slammed her way out of his house. Tommy stood there for a moment until her car couldn't be heard anymore. A weight seemed to lift from him and his mind was at some level ease for the first time in a while.**

**He looked at one the pictures that had been skipped in Kat's tantrum.**

"**One step at a time, Beautiful." With that he began the meticulous work of separating salvageable from not. Three hours later he was at home had set about the task of putting pictures back together and reframing them.**


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update the previous chapter. College has been hindering my writing schedule and I fear it is only going to get worse. Thank you to everyone who reads. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Loves to all of you!

* * *

"Dr. O is officially the most annoying person on the face of the Earth."

Conner had finally finished unloading the last of his assigned boxes. Feeling accomplished, he now lay on Alyx's freshly made bed, closing his eyes, to block all the images bombarding his vision.

Alyx laughed as she pinned up her final poster. "It's so weird hearing you call him Dr. O. I normally just call him either Tommy, or whatever random insultingly-silly name that pops into my head."

Conner looked at her through hooded eyes as she went to help Luna with her books and videos and nerdy things that Conner had little knowledge of. A smirk went over his face as she bent and stretched to arrange them just right. That's when he noticed something odd.

He wasn't the only one watching her.

Luna made a squeak as she caught Conner glaring at her and dropped the books she'd been holding. They exchanged glares for a time before Alyx tripped over the forgotten books on the floor. Conner used his resurrected super speed to catch her before she hit the hardwood floor. She gasped and then chuckled a little as she smiled up at him.

"My hero!" She fluttered her eyelashes and put on a ridiculous southern accent. "Where would this little gal be with out you?"

"Haha." Conner went back to his place on the bed and was quite happy exchanging smiles with Alyx. That was until Luna stumbled into her and won her attention, again. They talked amongst themselves for a time and Conner himself began drifting off to sleep.

"So, Conner, when do you start hardcore college soccer Nazi death camp?" Conner was startled awake to see Alyx sending him a smile and Luna making strange a motion toward him behind her back.

He stuck his tongue out at her when Alyx turned her attention to the books. "Already happened. Remember those two weeks I was gone and sending you guys post cards."

Alyx stiffened and turned completely to face him. "You were sending those from hardcore college soccer Nazi death camp?" He nodded and she put her hands over her mouth before laughing with a whine in her voice. "It was only two weeks?"

He nodded, again, and she repeated her cute whining chuckle. 'How does she do that?' Conner watched as she crawled over him laid her head on his chest while her arms wrapped around his abdomen.

"Like you said it was hardcore. Long days starting before the sun rose and lasting until after the sun set."

"I'm so sorry." She smiled up at him through her purple and green bangs, the green was new and he liked it a lot. It brought out the multi-colourness of her eyes. Eyes that were fixed on him before a very angry blonde smacked her butt.

"Hey, single-vixen. Remove yourself from he of the big ego that has a girlfriend." Alyx rolled her eyes before she removed the books that were in Luna's hand and placed them on top of the nearest shelf.

"We are taking a break. If I have to go through the alphabet one more time I'm going to scream." Alyx led the way into the kitchen of Tommy's home. "Why is it that I can remember the names of the books written by each of the Bronte sisters, but I can't remember which letter comes after which in the alphabet?"

"You kooky like that." She laughed a wonderful laugh and Conner smiled, but stopped suddenly. A spaced out look crossed her face as she looked into the shining golden eyes of a full grown wolf.

Everything around her faded as she heard the whisper of a voice in her mind. "The time will come."

'What time?' The wolf seemed to smirk at her, as if it heard the words uttered in her mind.

"You'll see." The beast growled and bowed before disappearing into the forest.

"Alyx!" She startled out of her vision. "Honey, you okay?" Luna put her hand on Alyx's back to ground her. Conner just looked her over thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but did you guys see that wolf?" Luna's brow lowered and Conner just continued to look her over. "You didn't?"

"Alyx, there was no wolf." Conner smirked a little, like he knew something she didn't, yet. "We should probably head inside before you start _seeing things_, again."

Luna glared at him and Alyx just kind of shook herself out of her stupor. She shared one last look with Conner before smiling and heading into the kitchen.

"Oh! Why is "Dr. O," and she was sure to add a goofy accent when she said it, "officially the most annoying person on the face of the Earth?"

Conner thought for a moment before he was able to call forth his previous idea. "Well, how long did he just stand in the door while the three of us worked. Creepy for one. Another he kept trying to find a way to get all of us out the house. Finally he grumbles gives us all glares than peals out of here faster than I can run."

"He used to be a NASCAR test driver." Alyx scrunched her face up and cocked her head. "Nope. None of that makes him annoying. That shoots him straight passed annoying and puts him right in the "Lost His Ability To Be Sneaky and Inconspicuous, If He Ever Had It," category."

Conner and Luna stared at her as she dialed the number for the only pizza place that delivered to Tommy's hermit haven. "He's got sexual stress he needs to relieve cause he's been thinking to much about the Letter and Kim, according to our older Reds. So, he needs Kat to get his rocks off. Obviously, by his display before leaving, he would rather do the "Bang-Bang" here, where pictures of Kim are, and none too subtly, disguised as old group photos. My guess is he's at her place right gagged so he doesn't scream out the wrong name by mistake. I bet if it wasn't him and just some random movie scene, his struggle would be quite comical." She held up her finger to stop Luna from saying whatever she was going to say. "Hi! Is this Raymond's Custom Pizza?" Pause. "Yes, this is Tommy Oliver's number, I'm his new ward." Pause. "Thank you, and I have to agree, it is a lovely home." Pause.

Conner and Luna exchanged one of the few none hostile looks they ever would as Alyx put in some funky, oddly healthy sounding order involving tomatoes, the south and chicken.

Pause. "What do you guys want? Tommy's buying."

Smiles spread across the teens faces as they gave their orders. Alyx confirmed what was requested and returned the phone to the cradle. The three remained silent as she busied herself with making coffee.

"Do you drink anything other than that?" She sent Conner a smirk and turned the coffee maker on before leaning on the island he and Luna were sitting at.

"Not really. It's mostly what I drink these days. I've been really worn out since the theatre." She looked at the two of them from under her bangs. "You know? When I blacked out and now have this whole day and a half missing from my life."

Luna scowled and Conner appeared to be studying her, again. She noted that he was doing that an awful lot these days and moved out of his gaze. It made her feel weird to have him looking at her with his eyes so intense.

"I just…" She filled her mug and doctored her drink, keeping her back to them. "Did anything strange happen? All I can remember is trying to keep the shield up. I don't even remember the scenes that were being played out as I did it. It was like I wasn't really looking anymore. I remember moving, reacting, but I can't tell you who was where and what was happening when."

"You blacked out and slept." Luna drummed her fingers in a bored fashion and Conner remained silent, but Alyx could hear his leg bouncing. "You're probably still recovering from over sleeping. You know how you are."

Alyx let an airy chuckle cross her lips as her face warped into a sour sneer. "Yeah. I'm just kooky." Louder this time, "That was two weeks ago, Luna."

Alyx returned to leaning on the island and stared at Luna over her mug. In response, the blonde just shrugged and dipped her finger in Alyx's coffee before tasting it and gagging. She made a snide comment about bitterness and lack of sufficient creamer. Alyx remained silent shifting her glare between the two of them as she sipped her coffee.

Conner decided that was best time to crack a choke about her topping choice. It was a decent way to mask the uneasiness in the room. Food arriving 25 minutes later was enough get rid of it completely.

"You do know Tommy and Kat broke up, right?"

Alyx and Luna choked and looked at Conner with saucer like eyes. Food fell from Alyx's mouth as she vocalized her surprise.

"Seriously. It was a huge deal. He recruited Kira to help him look for new picture frames. Got pretty ugly here I guess." There wasn't much eating between the girls after that as they chirped amongst themselves.

Everyone stared at Jason and Trini as they processed what had just been brought to the table.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say: Huh?"

"Well, Kim, and company, Kat tried to get Tommy to rethink you having written the Letter."

Kim burst out laughing hysterically and everyone else just stared at her. Alyx was the only one who didn't really react. She just kind of stared and had a crushed look on her face.

"It's like everything that ever is or was just isn't and never has been."

Trini patted her shoulder and gave her a sympathetic smile. "I know the feeling."

Conner recovered finally with a confused look on his face. "Okay, I know I reacted like everyone else, but why is that a bad thing? Or, I guess, not so much bad as more rather shocking?"

Alyx looked to him wide eyed as the younger crew snickered. The older ones were too busy trying to work out the whole thing in their minds.

"We never told you?"

"You guys explained everything that was necessary but intimate details were left out."

Alyx sighed before giving a sad smile. "She's the reason behind the Letter."

Kim gave out an exclamatory noise and everyone else stared at her. It took Alyx a moment to realize what she had done.

"Whoops."

Kimberly stood up slowly and Alyx looked panicked for a moment before squaring her shoulders. Conner quickly moved away from her when he recognized the hardened look that came over her.

"You have two seconds to start explaining then you find out just how strong a Master Ninjetti Warrior is." She grabbed the younger girl by the collar of her bright pink t-shirt and rammed her across the room and against the wall. "I will have no qualms, and you know this quite well."

The air around the two began to sizzle and glowed with two varying shades of pink that seemed to fight each other.

"Since I don't want to fight you over something that was going to be revealed in the near future anyway, you can put me down. I'll tell you."

Kimberly set her down and leaned against the wall as Alyx recounted her first run in with a communicator, the Command Center and the Morphing Grid. After that everyone just kind of blinked.

"So, you heard a voice in your head when you let the grid flow over your hand?"

Alyx thought for a moment. "More rather it told me how. Told me to let it flow over my hand. It was there before the Grid and I physically connected."

"So, you really did have the connection since birth." She nodded and looked at Kim.

"This is where you're really gonna wanna listen up. That was just a little back story so you wouldn't get too confused."

"When Kat first showed up, I had a conference with Zordon. He requested I observe her from a far. It helped that I was constantly at the Youth Center for my brother's Karate and my practical god worshipping of Kim. My observations never really revealed anything that wasn't already known. It wasn't until a long time after she had been purged of all evil influence that I finally came across something. Zordon and I had one finally meeting regarding her."

_A slightly older Alyx dissolved into existence, making Zordon and Alpha pause in their conversation._

"Alyx, we weren't expecting to see you so soon. It was only two days ago you were here for your weekly training session. Are you having flares, again?_"_

_Alyx cringed at the memory of her last flare. It was the day Zordon began working on the White Tiger Ranger. He had needed a replacement and she had needed an outlet for her excess Energy. Inadvertently, they almost hadn't been quick enough. The volcano that was just off the shore outside of Port Nemo nearly erupted._

"No. No flares_." She looked around and sighed. "_You remember when I came in once Kat showed up._"_

"Katharine is fine now. All traces of evil are gone_." Zordon smiled at the girl before as she leveled him with a serious look. "_There is nothing you need to worry about. Unless you've Slipped again._"_

_Alyx winced as, once more the memories of her unusual abilities acting up came to the forefront of her mind. "_As far as I know this feeling has maybe a little something to do with the Grid, but mostly it's hard evidence._"_

_Zordon was quiet for a moment then nodded for her to continue. "_ I was outside the Youth Center, talking to a classmate about a project we were doing together and that's when I noticed Kat. She was talking to this guy, non descript type, but the conversation wasn't friendly. Finally, after a pretty heated argument with this guy who could have doubled as a brick wall, she sighed and nodded then told him one last thing before leaving.

"I didn't see that guy for the rest of the afternoon until he entered the Youth Center and headed straight to the Juice Bar. He handed Ernie a letter. I stayed long enough to hear it was for Tommy then followed the messenger out. He went behind the Juice Bar, turned into a Putty and melted away after spazzing out. Well, almost. I jumped the poor thing before he could melt and managed to get a copy of his hardwiring using the communicator you gave me._"_

_Alpha took her communicator from her and connected it to the control consol. Her communicator was next generation tech. Kind of a test run for how much they could and could not put into the standard issue models. That being said, hers had a feature where she could scan the magical signature of abnormalities in real time. _

"Alpha? What are you getting?_" The robot moved around and tapped in different command codes, Alyx looking over his shoulder all the while._

"It looks like it was a back-up spell. It was to activate in the event something happened to shift the balance of power on the moon, but only if the Rangers were still around and certain members were still present._" Alyx's face was scrunched up as she concentrated to make sense of the information on the monitors._

"The spell was cast about a month before Kat showed up. It appears this was when the plan involving her was all laid out._" She scrolled down a bit and cleared her throat before continuing. "_Kat was to use the powers transferred to her from Rita and bring forth Kim's worst fear and have her act on it. It was around this time that Coach Schmidt was to come to Angel Grove. Rita knew that Tommy would never allow Kim to pass up her dream.

"It appears she never counted on Kat succeeding._" Zordon sighed and thought for a moment before nodding for her to continue. "_Turns out, losing Tommy was a fear, but the worst of all the ones Kim holds, she is human after all, was being the cause of losing him. Somehow drifting away from him and not wanting to be with him anymore. She was terrified of replacing him.

"Kat tapped into her subconscious and had her act out how she would do it. The result was a letter. The Letter. Kat then handed that off to Rita who transferred it into the spell. The letter Tommy has is legitimately written by Kim and is the only copy in the universe. It's the real deal, brought forth from a nightmare. Everything in that letter is everything Kim never would have said or wanted to say._"_

_Zordon nodded and then leveled Alyx with a severe look. "_Why are you coming forward with this now? The incident in question is over a month old._"_

"I have this thing called a life, Zordon. That includes school, friends, family. I'm not one of your Rangers. I don't need to come to you for help and I didn't need to come forward with this._" They stared at each other for a time. It had only been about a year since she had first come to the Command Center, but she had grown fast. "_I did this because my friend is in pain, but after thinking about it I really don't think we should make this known._"_

"Why?_"_

"Because they've adjusted. The team is learning how to handle each other again and bringing this out would only hinder them. It may even destroy them. Kim's falling into a pattern and she's learning to cope. If we let out that Kat was the cause of this? Trust me when I tell you, one pink won't survive, and I can tell you it'll be the fake that goes._"_

"Kat was only meant to be a temporary fix, though it would seem that she is a now a permanent addition. The Zeo Pink Ranger Power chose her. You do understand that, right Alyx?_"_

_Alyx sighed and rolled her eyes. "_Of course I know that. You know that the Ninjetti Powers have returned to Kim, though, don't you? But really, that's neither here nor there. All we can do is let time heal this and I'm supposing we're thinking the same thing._"_

_Zordon nodded and they conversed some about suspending their meetings until things calmed down. She said her good byes and transported out._

"That was the last time I went there. Things just never managed to work out so that I could. As time passed, my weird abilities just went away until recently when I awakened all of you." She swept her arm around the room acknowledging almost all the members in it.

Kimberly stared at her from her place against the wall. She was no longer leaning against it but depending on it to stay up right. "She did this? She's the reason why?…" Her voice broke as she whimpered slightly then looked to Jason and Trini. "And he? He just let it happen."

Jason sighed and walked over to his best friend. "I'm sorry, Kimmie, but she was right. If she had revealed it, everything would have been destroyed and the Earth as we know it most likely wouldn't exist."

The resigned tone in Jason's voice made Kimberly pause in her sobbing and leaned away from him. Jason looked at her with an understanding and comforting gaze.

"You knew?" Jason startled as he was roughly pushed away from her. "You've known. You've known and haven't told me." She whirled on Trini who was standing in the background, not looking at her. "You've known, too, of course. How could he keep something from the woman he loves."

She clenched her jaw and looked between the two of them. "Had it just been Alyx and Zordon, I could have understood fairly easy. You two, though." She swallowed and shook her head. "I can't even look at you."

"There's one more thing, Kim." She paused on her way to the door and turned her head slightly for Alyx to continue. "Tommy and Kat had a huge fight. They're done as of two weeks ago. Apparently, it was about you. You and the Letter."

She remained still for a moment before continuing on. The room was silent as she left the house with a heavy and determined stride. It was quiet for sometime after that as everyone tried to figure out how to proceed. Alyx sat down and laid her chin on her arms that were now folded on the dining room table.

"I keep thinking that could have gone better, but for the life of me I have no idea how."


	9. Chapter 9

Tommy lifted the bottle to his lips once more as he watched the footage play across his television. A laugh left his lips as Bulk and Skull began to gesture and yell about how they had been the ones to save the world.

"Where do things get so grey?" Tommy was silent for a time as he sped the tape up to the news coverage of one of his martial arts tournaments.

Halfway through him getting his butt handed to him, a knock from his front door startled him to nearly dropping his bottle. He didn't move for a moment until it came again. "What the hell?"

The knocking continued until he yanked the door open, ready to give the person a piece of his mind. Words were stuck in his throat, though, when he saw the petite figure before him.

Kim was there, in nothing but a tank and sweatpants, her hand raised to knock again. A nervous twitch of a smile played on her lips and she lowered her arm, clearing her throat awkwardly. "Sorry, it's so late, Tommy. I just got some interesting tidbit of information and I had to come see you."

Tommy gave her an odd look then regarded the bottle in his hand. He sat the thing down and continued to give it an odd look before returning his gaze to his guest. They stared at each other for a time.

"Can I come in?" The thought had crossed his mind, several times, but her coming in would probably be the end of things the way he was feeling at the moment.

"Um, it's a nice night." Tommy moved to cross the threshold and join her on the porch, but she side stepped him. "Fresh air is a good thing."

Kim's lips twitched, again, and she began rubbing her arms. "I don't have a jacket on me, and if you hadn't noticed it's pretty chilly out here in the sticks."

Tommy licked his lips and was silent for a moment. Finally he conceded and stepped aside so she could move passed him. "Come in, won't you."

"Thank you." She stood, arms folded over her chest just inside the door while Tommy grabbed his beer bottle and went to get her a drink. "You're watching an old tournament? Why?"

Tommy handed her a glass of water and took a sip of his own. "Nostalgia. Have a seat."

She did as suggested and took the liberty of pulling the throw off the back of the couch and snuggling up. "I'm probably the last person you want here. I hope Kat hasn't grown into one of those jealous types."

Tommy laughed a little and put his water on the table before them. "She hasn't grown into it. It's what she's always been. She just hides it really well."

Kimberly nodded, her face plastered with an overly bright smile. "That's big of her." The tone in her voice got Tommy's attention. "So, what I came here about, oddly enough, is a certain peace of paper you received from me."

Tommy's somewhat decent mood evaporated with that. "Of course. What else would you be here for if not to continue to rub the metaphorical salt in the still bleeding wound."

Kimberly didn't meet his eyes. "I'm not here to rub anything. Maybe." She snorted then gave him a side glance. "Sorry. My sensor bar has been totally annihilated."

Tommy's expression remained hard as he got up. For awhile he just walked with his hands running through his short hair. Everything was quiet in the room until a humorless laugh ripped through the air.

"Figures." He turned on her, his eyes darker than usual. She almost regretted her requested and cavalier mood when the green flashed through them. "This is so like you."

"What's like me, Tommy? Explain to me the inner workings of my mind." Any glimmer of regret had vanished. She looked at him from her place on his couch, still curled up in his blanket, drinking his water, and all in his house.

"You come in and make everything like it's okay. Or, you try to anyway. Then you leave your hand prints are all over everything. All over everything that is mine. I can't wash those away, Kim. And after you leave all that's left are death traps to further kill me."

He sighed and pulled out his wallet. "Now, you're asking me for the thing that made all your beautiful hand prints dangerous weapons. I was damaged from the moment I laid eyes on you, Kim. This just made it painful. The one good thing about it was that I never actually saw you put hand prints on it. They didn't exist for me."

His voice got weak. "You touch this and that little bit is gone. They'll be real. Don't ask me do to this."

Kimberly took a sip of water to steady herself.

"Tommy, I don't have any clue what that letter says."

Tommy stopped pacing and glared at her. "Nice. Rub it in my face just how easy it was to write me off, literally. So easy, apparently, that you don't even remember what's in this stupid thing." He waved the warn envelope around violently.

"Tommy, how long have you been caring that around?"

"Ever since you sent it. When did you forget what you wrote? Would've been nice to know so I could've gotten rid of it then. Maybe my life would've been easier."

Kim was quiet for a moment taking another drink and clearing her throat. "19."

Tommy shoved the Letter back in his wallet and looked up at her. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"That's when I stopped I crying over you. I was 19. Had been for about 3 months. Some friends took me to a party. I got good and sloppy drunk. There was a guy there who had long, dark, wavy hair and he was tan and he was tall. He was originally from London and he a spectacular accent. He was studying chemistry, and his focus was its further applications in medication. His eyes were blue and, really, he was a decent guy.

"We got to talking and then we got kissing-"

"I don't want to hear this."

"-He took me up to a room and we had sex."

Tommy's hands were shaking. "Kimberly, I don't want to hear this."

She stood up with such force the couch moved slightly. "You're going to. We had sex and I remember it. It was great! I enjoyed it. Funny thing, though, losing your virginity is supposed to be a good thing. And intense. It's supposed to be a good and intense thing that changes you forever. It's something that's supposed to create these invisible and unbreakable bonds between lovers. For me, it was just something I had that wasn't there anymore. I woke up the next morning, got dressed, went home and cleaned up. After that I went to practice and later class. Nothing changed for me.

"I ran into the guy a while later and we went on to have a pretty decent friendship until he started getting it into his head that we were more than friends. See, the sex we had changed things for him. Made him think that between us it was special. For him, I guess it was, but for me it was nothing more than a way to relieve stress."

Tommy was silent as he observed her standing before him.

"And here you are. You who can have a relationship with someone and live some semblance of a happy life. I can't even kiss a guy and focus on that. I go on a date and instead of taking in what's going on or getting to know the guy as possibly more than a one night stand, I'm thinking of the better things I could be doing. Half the time I leave not even remembering the guy's name.

"All that ended in one night. See, I had come to terms with the fact that I would always love you long before any of that started. So, if that was true, why was I acting like this." She paused for a moment and stared at Tommy, as if waiting for him to guess. "Okay. I'll tell you. I was still waiting Tommy. Waiting for everything to stop. _Everything_. Because that would be the moment I was okay.

"Nothing stops, Tommy. You wanna know why? Because I don't know how it all started. I will never have closure until I see that letter."

Tommy pulled it out of his wallet, again, and held it in his shaking hand. "Why?"

"I don't know where we ended, Tommy, and where our separate lives began. I was still thinking we were "us" when you had long moved into your own entity."

Tommy felt his eyes stinging. "Why are you doing this, Kim. I get that you were a different person after moving away. I _get_ that. But, why are you coming in here and telling me all this. You know what the Letter says. You wrote it. Why are you giving me all this bullshit?"

Kimberly let out an aggravated cry and grasped her hair in angry fists. "Fine. Think I wrote that fucking thing, just let me see it."

"Answer one last question of mine." He watched her head bob up and down. "Who was the other guy and why didn't it last?"

Kimberly burst into giggles and doubled over. "You're gonna need to give me a second, 'cause that's just ridiculous." She laughed for a time then began breathing deep as it wore down. "Okay, you're asking me who another guy was and when did it end? Well, the last guy I seriously dated was a lawyer and it lasted about half a year. That ended five months ago."

Tommy glared and walked into the kitchen. "You're gonna make fun of me, fine. Leave and keep you're secrets. I don't care."

She followed him, her own anger gaining fire. "Don't you dare do that, Oliver. I already told you several times tonight I don't know what's going on. You asked and I answered. I have a right to see what's in that envelope."

Tommy opened his liquor cabinet and roughly pulled out a bottle of tequila. "You know damn well what's in the Letter. Stop pulling this and get out of my house. Bad enough you left me for a guy, but apparently he didn't even mean that much to you. Would have been nice if you could have remembered his name at least. What date number was he? Before you decided to do the decent thing and break "us" up?"

For a moment everything stopped as Kimberly's face went pale. "Finally. That got you to shut up."

Her mouth opened and closed as he decided against a glass and simply took a swig from the bottle.

"You look like a fish when you do that." She stared for another moment before taking a seat at his high rise island. "Make yourself at home. Again."

A tear ran down her face and that was the only warning he got before she broke. "I can't do this."

She was saying something more, but that was all Tommy could make out as sobs wracked her whole being.

"What? Can't do what, Kim? Keep lying to me? And, I suppose, yourself?" She flipped him off and covered her face with her hands. "Oh, stop."

He reconsidered using a glass and poured them both one. He had gotten through two before she finally calmed down enough to take drink from her glass.

"So, are you going to share with the class what exactly you can't do."

She flipped him off once more and took another drink before sighing deep. "I can't stay calm. I thought all the way here, "I can do this. I can take what ever he dishes out and handle it with out crying." Looks like I couldn't."

There was quiet in the room as she coughed a bit and took a few more drinks before sliding him her now empty glass. When he offered a refill, she passed stating that she had to drive home.

"So, you gonna tell me what's really going on? Why you're really here."

"Tommy, I have told you nothing but the truth all night. I really don't know what's in that Letter other than I apparently left you for some fictional man. A man that I had no clue even existed. I heard that from Jason when he came to visit after he lost his Gold Ranger powers. So, that I did lie about. I did know what you meant when you asked who I had left you for. It was just my messed up way of saying, "I had no one to leave you for, you idiot, so why would I?" Guess the message didn't get across."

Tommy looked at her for a moment than downed his drink. "So, what you're telling me is, and stop me if I get something wrong, is that you don't know what's in the Letter, except that you apparently left me for another person. You don't know who this person is cause he doesn't exist. And all this apparently amounts to you never having written a break-up letter to me and never considered it. Is that all correct?"

Kimberly nodded than got a strange look on her face. "Well, that's mostly correct. I did consider breaking things off with you at one point. It was a little while after our first year anniversary. You still had that habit of not kissing me a lot, but that never went away. I was insanely attracted to you, but you weren't reciprocating, so I considered saving myself the trouble of being hurt and just ending things.

"But I talked to an older girl from my gymnastics club and she got me…a very _useful_ gift." The smirk on her face made him curious and worried, but than most of her looks did. "I tell you, that thing should be bronzed for all its years of faithful service."

Tommy blinked. "'Kay, now I have to know. I mean, I think I may already know, but I need confirmation. What did she get you?"

Kim gave him the sweetest smile. "A vibrator."

"'Kay, so long as we're clear." H laughed a bit before continuing. "Nice to know a vibrator kept us together. That's great."

"Tommy," she touched his arm and ignored his jump. "I had gotten over the notion of breaking up with you long before she got me that. The thought was gone from my mind the moment after I considered it. That little friend of mine was just a nice bonus."

He stared at her like she had a third head for a moment before she finally laughed. And laughed. And laughed.

"Tommy, I'm kidding. I didn't get my first vibrator until Sha sent me one as gag gift for graduation. It was a…novelty item."

Tommy took in her red face and opened his mouth before closing it and shaking his head. "Nope, don't want to know."

An impish smile lit up her face before she got serious again. "Everything else, though, is true, Tommy. Everything."

"I want to believe every word that comes out of your mouth, but I don't think I can." There was a brief pause as he asked another question that had been bugging him for a while. "Why didn't you call me?"

Kimberly brought her hand away from him and sighed. "I did. Took me forever to get anybody. Ask Rocky."

"So, say I believe you. And say I start asking around, which I have your permission to do, yes? Say I start asking around and people back up your statements. Where do we go? What are you looking for?"

She was quiet as she thought for a moment. "We move forward. You and Kat progress and I get closure. Don't think I came here to get you back, Tommy, 'cause I let go of that idea a long time ago. I would have never said anything at all, tried not to, if my curiosity hadn't gotten the better of me."

"So, what are you saying?"

"I'm trying to say goodbye, Tommy. Goodbye to our ghosts. Your ghost and mine. They've haunted me, and maybe you, for long enough."

'That's not what I want.' Tommy played with the Letter for a bit and slid it over toward her but didn't remove his hand. "We move forward?"

"Yes, Tommy. I told Jason long ago that I understand our book is closed. You and Kat have something and I'm not going to consider, well, not twice anyway, destroying that. There was a time when I wanted her pretty blonde head on a platter and her tall thin body quartered and served to you as stew. Like in Snow White: A Tale of Terror."

She paused her animated rant for a moment. "Have you ever seen that?"

When Tommy shook his head her smile fell. "Sad! Great movie. Sigourney Weaver and that little girl from While You Were Sleeping. It was a made for TV movie, but very good."

"Horror movie? I thought.… You hate them."

She played with her hands for a bit and gave him one of her sideway glances. "Well, it started with serial killers than progressed into horror. I had to have something to deal with all my anger toward you without coming over here and ripping your guts out. So, one night I rented Scream and never looked back."

"Anything else you wanna lay on me?"

She thought for a moment as she reached for the envelope before her and got up from her stool. "I know it was you who stole my gymnastics tapes. And I know why." With that she smirked and sashayed straight out his door, sending only a thank you his way.

Tommy didn't move until long after she had driven off.

"Shower. I need a cold, very cold, shower." He sent a look toward the bottle of tequila before capping it and putting it away. He was still mulling over her words when he gave up sleeping and decided to work out.

Alyx grumbled from under her comforter. "Who ever this is better have doughnuts."

She blindly searched for her phone and found it by her foot. "Hello?"

At first there was no sound other than heavy breathing. "Okay, I've seen tons of horror movies and psycho killer flicks to know to call the police, unless you start talking."

There was a little more silence. "I just needed to hear your voice."

Alyx sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Conner, this has to stop. I know you're still feeling the fear from me being out with no sign of coming to, but no more. You need to stop calling me like this. Hang up the phone, go to bed, kiss your girl and go to sleep. We're friends, but not for long if you keep this up."

"I know."

"Goodbye, Conner."

There was a pause before she heard him sigh. "Goodbye, Alyx."

Sleep escaped the both of them, though, as the younger set of Rangers were called to deal with a monster in the warehouse district of Angel Grove. Needless to say, none of them attended classes or work the next morning.

Tommy was not a happy man when Alyx yawned her way into the kitchen that afternoon.

"Today was your first day." She bobbed her head and shuffled through the kitchen to the couch. "I really don't know what's going through your head, Alyx."

He was angry for only three more seconds. That was the only time allotted to silence in the house as Alyx's retching filled it immediately after. A thump followed as she passed out only a few inches away from her stomach contents that spread across his wood floor. Tommy carefully picked her up and placed her on the couch. He got a bucket from under his sink and placed it near her before he set about cleaning up her mess before it reached his hand woven rug.

Once that was done he entered a staring contest with his phone.

"Shit." He picked it up and dialed the number he hoped he wouldn't have to for a good long while.

"Hi, Kim. I'm probably the last person you expected to hear from, but Alyx is sick." He paused and tried very hard not to sigh at the sound of her voice. He was hoping to stall talking to her again for that very reason. Control was not his friend at the moment. "Yeah. She just let loose on my floor and is now out.

"Well, the reason I'm calling is in regard to her dogs. Can you hold onto them for a while? I know she was supposed to pick them up today." Her tone got harsh and he couldn't help but smirk. "I'm not saying you don't love them. And I'm not saying you can't take care of them. I'm sure you've done a splendid job this last week, but I'm wondering if you want them off your hands. No, I'm not saying they're a burden." He paused as she continued to fume. "You know what, you hold onto them until she's better. How does that sound?"

She was very pleased with this and purred a few things about good faith and understanding. Tommy wasn't really coherent enough to respond so he just grunted his thanks and farewell before hanging up and checking on Alyx.

She was out cold until he crouched down to take in her appearance with a closer look. His head was right by hers, he was checking her pupil dilation, when she felt that was the time to barf, again. He fell back on his hands as she retched for about a minute straight before her eyes rolled back and she was out once more.

Katherine Hillard woke slowly, snuggling into her comforter and drifting off to sleep several times before she realized it wasn't a comforter she was snuggling into. It was a jacket and it wasn't hers. And she most definitely did not own a suede couch.

Very carefully she felt her head, making sure there were no serious bumps. She could have blacked out again. That was happening a lot lately.

"If you're wondering where you are, I'm getting sick of telling you. So, here's hoping it's the last time I have to."

Her eyes widened at the sound of male voice with a faint London lilt and she shot up into sitting position. There, across the room, and downing a glass of what she thought to be scotch, was a very tall and very attractive man. He had shaggy dark hair and tan skin that fit snug around his toned muscles. He would have looked exactly like Tommy, if he weren't slightly taller and a little bit bigger and some how sharper in almost every way.

"So, since you're so good at telling me where I am, apparently, why don't you get on with it."

He looked at her and she took in a sharp breathe at his glowing blue eyes.

"You and Tommy broke up again." She lifted her chin and swung her legs over the edge of the couch. She crossed them and her arms, squaring her shoulders and taking a business like stance. "You've failed."

A familiar scream ripped through her head and she swallowed her moan of pain. "What does it matter to you?"

He scoffed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks. The muscles on his forearms flexed.

"Well, Ms. Hillard, considering my whole existing depends on you keeping Tommy off the dating market and away from Kim, it matters a lot to me."

Kat looked around his office. It was like any other high end swanky office, but there were pictures of her and him everywhere. Pictures of him with her family. Something was very wrong and her whole entire being was beginning to hurt.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Jessie Hillard. I'm your older brother." He watched her pale with disbelief. "Shocking, I know. It always is. See, we've been through this whole thing about 4 times. Hard to believe how big brother grew up so great. Here's the deal, sis, you and me, we were plans B and C."

A horrified look crossed her face and she let loose a strangled "No!"

"Oh, yes! Plan A was her and Zedd taking over the universe as they were. Plan B was _The Letter_. You pulled that off beautifully by the way, and it worked. Problem is, Kim was starting to lose her resolve about keeping her mouth shut in regards to her actually having anything to do with the thing. So, in comes Plan C: Me. Didn't have the desired effect, but it did a decent job. Here's the problem, though, Kim came forward two days ago about having not written the Letter."

Kat's head felt like a 25lb weight and she cradled it in her hands. "So, now it's time for Plan D: We finish the job, take over the Universe and rule it as Rita and Zedd would have. We are their heirs."

The room spun as Kat's vision fogged up. "Funny how they just seemed to plan for everything, huh?"

That was the last thing Kat heard before everything went black.


End file.
